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WHEN I CAME TO THE BENEDICTINE MONASTERY of Mount St. Scholastica in Atchison, Kansas, many years ago, it was decided that the best way to channel my energy, short attention span, and love of the outdoors would be to assign me to the garden. I loved it, a much better fit than making infirmary beds or helping the sacristan, but I had no idea how enormous a role it would play in my religious formation.
My mentor was Sister Jeannette Obrist, well into her seventies at the time, who seemed to know everything about plants. That would be logical since she was doing this as a postretirement appointment after having been a botany professor in the monastery’s college for decades.
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Some years ago, during a retreat, I took a small notebook and began writing and sketching what I knew, both for myself and for those who would work with me. I did it because, on that day, I needed to summarize my learning, and I had no intention of it becoming a book. Many years later, I showed it to one of my vineyard helpers, author Judith Valente, who was writing a book about our community called Atchison Blue. My notebook consisted only of the sketched pages, and I didn’t really want to add explanations or intellectual reflection. It was merely a picture book of practical advice that I wanted to let speak for itself and speak to its readers at whatever level it might touch them. In fact, if you don’t want all that extra intellectualization, I won’t be at all offended if you choose to tape the commentary pages together and let this book be just a picture story. Yet here it is in a more developed form, and perhaps it will help others to love a plant, love the miracles of life, love themselves and others.
This book is not an overtly religious book because I believe its insights apply to anyone. Nevertheless, those who come from a Judeo-Christian background will immediately recognize an additional level of significance. Old and New Testaments have numerous references to vineyards and vinedressers. At various times, the people are referred to as a vineyard or as vines. God and Jesus both identify themselves as vinedressers. Jesus takes it another step and says, “I am the vine. You are the branches.”
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