Were there raised beds in Eden?

For the last two years purslane, a low-lying weed that grows into a dense mat on the ground as thick as a cheap weave carpet, has been more abundant than any of the vegetables in our garden.

Some said cheer up: purslane can actually serve as a salad vegetable. But this is compromise by another name; like celebrating "diversity" when moral clarity is no longer clear.

So this season we are building raised beds. Maybe making self-contained beds and importing new soil can conquer the purslane. In the last few months I've studied enough on the subject to at least earn some pass-fail credits, if not an associates degree.

All through the year I collected old wood that can serve for the sides of the beds. No, says a workshop leader; use untreated 2x10s. These then must be assembled with 3 inch galvanized screws.

Circular saws, drills (pre-drill the holes, she said), hammers, and one sore thumb from a misdirected blow ...

Next you need hardware mesh, a grid of wire as rugged as medieval chain mail underwear. This recalcitrant product comes in rolls of 2 or 3 or 4 foot widths, up to 50 feet long. And for a pretty price. And make sure you wear hefty gloves cutting it with wire cutters. You place the mesh at the bottom of the beds so the gophers don't attack sub terreus - that would be "under ground" in Latin; I looked it up.

On top of the chain mail is garden fabric to keep water circulating but hopefully the nasty purslane out. Then on top of all of this is the new soil to be shipped in -- minimum order 7 cubic yards. For our 12 beds, each at least 4 feet by 8 feet, this just may require a second mortgage, maybe even a bailout.

All for 3 ears of corn you can buy for 99 cents at the Albertson's.

It is a wonderful but painful reminder of our origins in the Garden of Eden.

In that Garden then, no, there was no need for raised beds. But in our garden now, yes .... so much effort, so much defense, so much money, so much, well, so much sweat of the brow.

And yet there is a vestige of real joy in tilling the intractable and mute ground, a vestige of anticipation for a beauty that will yield a trace of produce.

It is the pleasure of enacting what we were meant to be, wishing for a nature as it was meant to be.

And so, a joy in building stage sets of gardens (the raised beds) in the fallen soil.

And through it all, if you listen carefully, you can hear all of creation groaning for the fulfillment of the sons and daughters of God.

Logos2Go

Genesis 2.8-9 And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food.

Romans 8:20-23 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.