Pssst! You. Yeah, you. Are a passenger on a planet. On a blue-green planet that's orbiting a golden star. We have orbited the sun almost 400 times since that historic autumn day in Plymouth, Massachusetts when the Pilgrims and the Indians gathered to give thanks for their harvest. Of course, the sun that grew this food has been shining in the sky for five and a half billion years, making the entire history of the USA but the blink of a cosmic eyelash.

The pumpkin soup that I'm taking to Larry and Eva's house for Thanksgiving is made from pumpkins that grew in my front yard. As I prepare the soup (with apple juice, miso, curry and cashews), I'll be thinking about the millions of people all over the USA who are taking a day off work to give thanks for our bounty. I'll also be remembering how the bounty came to be.

Three billion years ago, a green miracle began happening on our little planet, but nobody (not even our scientists) knows how it started. What we do know is this: Plants reach down with their roots and pull up water and traces of minerals from the soil. They also reach toward the sun and capture its energy. By combining this solar energy with what they bring up from below and with the carbon dioxide that they snatch out of thin air, they manufacture their own bodies. Of course, their bodies become our food--directly through vegetables, fruits, and starches and indirectly by feeding any animals that we eat. Thanks to green plants, light becomes life.

A miracle that's been happening all over our planet for three billion years is easy to take for granted. But, do I want to take it for granted on the one day of the year that's set aside for giving thanks? No way! But I'm weird. I grow my own food. Not all of it, mind you. Just the vegetables, fruits, herbs, sweet potatoes and taro. The pumpkins in the soup that I'm taking to Larry and Eva's are from a seed in a pumpkin that a stranger gave me in 1992. I was watching him work in the community garden in Maalaea and I admired his pumpkins. He gave me one, and I planted its seeds. Of course, pumpkin seeds make pumpkins. And pumpkins make seeds. The gift keeps on giving as naturally as our earth keeps on orbiting.

I feel really grateful to be living on a planet where green plants make sunlight (and even lamplight) edible. On this planet, to eat is to ingest light. So, food is sacred. As in sacrament. To eat with gratitude is to be in holy communion with the blue-green planet that we live on and with the golden star that we're orbiting. So, I'm not surprised that people all over the world set aside a holy day each year when they give thanks for their harvest.

This is Harriet Witt, your guide for this little ride on our passenger planet. And I'm hoping that your Thanksgiving-Day gratitude makes your food more tasty and more nourishing.


If you have any questions, drop Harriet an email: harriet@passengerplanet.com


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