Love is the Answer, Said the Broccoli

OKAY SO ABOUT A MONTH AGO, actually longer than a month ago, I was transplanting itty-bitty broccoli seedlings from very small peat pots into bigger ones. All was going well-- and then it happened! Snap! One of the broccoli snapped as I was carefully lifting it from its pot. Not so good! Instant death sentence, as a plant cannot live once it's been seperated from its root system.

Or can it?

Alas, this has occasionally happened in the past, and ordinarily I'd just toss the plant away with a sigh. But taking a cue from my friend Dan Shea, who chants to injured plants, I transplanted the wee thing anyway, even though it had no root system, and then began bathing the plant in love. I sang to it, sent it loving energy (not hard to do-- I love plants anyway, and consider them fellow beings) and then to top it all off, I colored a big red heart on its peat pot.

The plant has not only survived in the weeks since then, it has thrived. 'There is no problem to which love is not the answer...' Happy Earth Day everyone, and if you live in the Boston area, please join us next Saturday as a contingent from the Malden Drum Circle helps clean up the Malden River (and eneterains fellow cleaners with drumming!) from 11 am to 3 pm. Meeting at 195 Canal Street, Malden, MA.