By Roslyn Ryan
Editor

From small kitchen gardens to full-scale farming operations, you don’t have to look far in Powhatan to find a place where people are making the most out of their own personal patch of Earth.

In so many ways, tending a garden is the antithesis of our modern way of life.

As work goes it is quintessentially hard and slow, typically low-tech, and disconcertingly dependant on forces outside of the grower’s control.

But is also soul restoring, cost effective and allows us to participate fully in meeting one of our most basic human needs. And it is perhaps the closest thing one can find to a tangible expression of our community’s rural character.
Rural character has been a hot topic for years, but talk of its demise has reached a fever pitch as a Powhatan Walmart moves closer to becoming a reality.

A behemoth like Walmart is not something to be taken lightly. But as the old adage goes, every problem bears in its hands a gift. If this perceived threat to our rural way of life has done nothing more than highlight what it is we enjoy about our community — if it has spurred us to examine not just our commitment to rural character but to knowing where our food and other products come from — then Walmart is not, as has been stated in these pages, a tragedy. It is merely a wake-up call.

As the many in our community have pointed out, development — done responsibly, with and eye toward sustainability — and rural character are not mutually exclusive.

In order to keep Powhatan a healthy and thriving community, we should make it a priority to find places for both.