>> KEVIN: WITH THESE RECENT SUMMER RAINS, MY GARDEN AT HOME HAS TAKEN OFF.

THE SEEDS I STARTED INDOORS A FEW COLD MONTHS AGO ARE NOW HAPPY PRETEENS.

AND IN MY MINNEAPOLIS BACKYARD, WALKING MY "ACREAGE," I THINK OF MY GRANDFATHER, GRANDMOTHER, AUNTS, AND MY UNCLES, ALL FARMERS.

FIVE GENERATIONS OF FLATLANDERS THAT NEVER KNEW ALTITUDE OR SEASICKNESS.

GARDENING ALWAYS BRINGS THEM BACK TO ME IN A VISCERAL WAY.

SEEDS FROM THE OLD COUNTRY WERE THEIR GIFT TO THE NEXT GENERATION.

THERE'S A HMONG SAYING... "WHENEVER YOU PLANT A SEED IN A NEW PLACE, BRING A LITTLE DIRT FROM HOME."

SOWING SEEDS IS AN ACT OF RESILIENCY, THE BATTLE CRY "THEY BURIED US, BUT WHAT THEY DIDN'T KNOW WAS WE WERE SEEDS."

THE DREAM THAT A NEW ERA WILL THRIVE FROM THIS.

BUT TO GROW, IT TAKES TENDING, AND TIME AND CARE.

I THINK OF THOSE WHO TENDED ME THROUGH SOME VULNERABLE YEARS.

MY THIRD GRADE TEACHER, MS. KELLER, SHE HAD FIREY RED HAIR, EVEN INTO HER 90S.

I FOUND A REPORT CARD RECENTLY FROM HER THAT SAID, "KEVIN HAS NO UNDERSTANDING OF THE MATERIAL BUT I'M NOT WORRIED ABOUT HIM."

SHE UNDERSTOOD ME.

WHEN I WAS IN GRADE SCHOOL, THERE WAS A MAN NAMED RAY.

HE WAS EVERYWHERE, AT EVERY CONCERT, BASKETBALL GAME, IN THE LUNCH ROOM.

EVEN BEFORE THE MILK HIT THE FLOOR, THERE WAS RAY WITH THE MOP, OR GREEN SAWDUST.

WE WERE NEVER ALLOWED TO CALL HIM A JANITOR.

MS. KELLER SAID, "RAY IS A CUSTODIAN.

FOR HIM, IT'S NOT ABOUT THE BUILDING, IT'S ABOUT YOU."

MARY OLIVER SAID, "ALL KINDNESS BEGINS WITH THE SOWN SEED."

WENDELL BERRY CALLED PLANTING TREES "PLANTING A PLACE FOR BIRDS TO SING."

AND THERE'S THE SAYING: "THE BEST TIME TO PLANT A TREE IS 20 YEARS AGO AND, THE NEXT BEST TIME IS TODAY."

GARDENING IS AN ACT OF FAITH.

WE PLANT KNOWING OF EARLY FROSTS, DROUGHT, FUNGUS, BLIGHT, BUT AFTER THIS MANY YEARS, IT'S WHAT I DO.

IT'S IN MY BODY, AND THROUGH THESE SEEDS, MY WAY OF LIVING