Everything is blooming

I have been very busy with my garden. Yesterday I made raspberry jam... already! Usually I make jam toward the end of the raspberry cycle when everyone gets tired of eating them fresh, but there are so many this year we can't "eat up" with them.
I also have zucchini beginning to grow -- yes! zucchini in my garden. I have never been able to grow Zucchini for some reason. I might get one or two and that is it, but not this year. I also have a green pepper already on the plant and some tomatillos as well. The tomatoes are blooming, the beans are climbing, the beet greens are coming up... everything is doing very very well.
I talked to my daughter-in-law's cousin a couple of days ago. He is an organic farmer up in Washington. He remarked that crops in the Pacific Northwest are about 2-3 weeks ahead of schedule. By the looks of my garden that is more than true. I was able to plant earlier as well since I didn't have to wait until the ground dried out a little as has been the case in normal years. I could never plant in early spring before as the ground would be a muddy sponge. But not this year. This year is different.
Later this week Pope Francis will be publishing his Encyclical on Ecology and Climate. Like many people I am very curious and looking forward to reading what he has to say. I have already heard negative voices and the document hasn't even been printed. Others seem anxious for the Pope to agree with them, whatever that means. The reality is that regardless of what he says, nothing will happen within the faith community unless individual people and the communities they belong too make a decision to change.
There have many good documents written before that simply get sidelined because they are too controversial or inconvenient for the comfortable way people have found to live. Nonetheless there is always a chance that people will take note and feel inspired to reflect on Creation, humanity and the Earth Community in a different way, one that includes the 100% and doesn't allow any group to dominate the other. Wouldn't that be amazing?
Praise Be! Caring For Our Common Home.
Watch for it Thursday June 18th.