Memorial Day

Walker Farm

It's plant-buying weekend. The parking lot at our local farmstand is so crammed that a sheriff's deputy stands in the middle of the road as a warning for traffic to slow down.

People used to buy plants to decorate the graves of loved ones. When i grew up, this holiday was called Decoration Day. But when all the secular
holidays moved to Monday in 1971, the name Memorial Day prevailed. Or, as one friend said, Happy Death Day.

This weekend we buy beautiful pots of flowers and 6-packs of seedlings, thinking of the flowering, fruitful life ahead.

Flowers and vegetables are impermanent, and they are a beautiful, subtle reminder of our own life span.