Heisenberg?

So much of our lives we take on faith. It's an uncertain world out there in every way possible, but we take it on faith that tomorrow will come and we plan accordingly. The sun will come up tomorrow (or the Earth will continue to rotate overnight). We believe the seasons will continue to change (Spring is the season that really likes to test our faith--as in, will it ever get here?). We take it on faith that we still have five miles worth of gas left when the little gas pump-shaped light goes on.

It isn't faith that causes us to believe that since we've hit one red light we'll hit 'em all, that's pessimism.

Gardening is a real test of faith. To begin with, we take it on faith that we know enough about what we are doing to pull off some kind of crop. We even mistakenly believe that our garden will look just as good as the ones in the magazines, even though it's more likely to look like the poor, dried up kitchen plot from a spaghetti western.

Again, we take it on faith that the weather will cooperate and give our gardens the best possible chance, or at least our plants will be strong enough to withstand the adverse conditions thrown at them. Including a newbie gardener (does anybody really know what they're doing?).

The biggest way that we exercise faith is by planting a seed and waiting for it to grow. I put my onion sets and potato eyes in the ground over a week ago. Why haven't they popped through the ground yet? Is it really supposed to take this long? I take a deep breath and take it on faith that something will happen next week.

Pepper seeds are the worst. One of the slowest germinating seeds I've ever heard of is the Aji Amarillo chile. Most references predict four to six weeks for germination. One reference even listed Aji Amarillo as extinct in North America. I've always failed at starting them. But, I put the seeds in the soil and exercise a heroic amount of faith.

Stephen P.