Having wandered amidst you these many years and seen firsthand the noble battle you have continually waged, we seek to encourage your splendid efforts toward fruition.

We have seen you rise from the soil, breaking through hardened crust that would dissuade other forms of life. With herculean effort you shove that massive lid of soil off to the side and raise your hands to the sky as if grabbing for life itself. I have witnessed this event personally and am alive today to testify to such prowess.

We have seen you stretch your feet and your thousands of toes down into the confines of the earth in deliberate search of the balance of cuisine your appetite so desperately desires.

We have seen you grow. My goodness we have seen you grow! From a few, pale green ovals barely supported by a delicate stem to a great mammoth dark green creation that envelops the middles, shakes hands with its neighbors and brushes kneecaps of passing humans.

And we have seen you in battle. As the reptilian Morning Glory seeks to wrap his tentacles around your throat and smother your very breath, we have seen you struggle on! As the mighty Jimson Weed and his fiendish friends the Lambsquarter, the Ragweed, the Cotton Weed, The Red Root, and that detested Palmer Amaranth seek to starve your roots of food, shade your leaves from the luscious rays of the sun and steal your water before it touches your parched lips, we have seen you fight on as the mighty warrior you are!

For we have been witnesses, in spite of it all, to the birth of your children as you needled down from your joints and gave rise to the next generation. We have marveled at your mothering instincts as you hovered over your progeny while they transformed from toddler to adolescence to full adulthood.

With what courage you proceed! What resilience you display! What perseverance you model! Keep on, good friend. Your combat shall not go unrewarded. The battle shall be won. You are not alone.

For we are on your side.

REX ALPHIN of Walters is a farmer, businessman, author, county supervisor and contributing columnist for The Tidewater News. His email address is rexalphin@aol.com.