A Bit of Earth: An Interview with Andrea Burke

Andrea Burke is the author of A Bit of Earth: A Year in the Garden with God. In her new book, she looks at the seasonal practice and common grace of gardening through a devotional lens. Part memoir, part prayer book, A Bit of Earth weaves care and intent through moments of ordinary living.

In our interview below, Burke reflects on the really practical but also deeply spiritual work of gardening.

Andrea G. Burke is the director of women’s ministry at Grace Road Church. She is married to Jedediah, and they are raising their two kids, two dogs, two cats, a few strays, three ducks, and a lot of chickens in an old farmhouse near Rochester, New York.

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Lexham Press: Can you tell us the story behind A Bit of Earth?
Andrea Burke: Over the last few years, as I’ve gardened and learned to slow down enough to pay attention, the Lord has taught me more and more about who He is, His character, and His revealed nature in all of creation. The garden has been a place of prayer and tears, and hard lessons fought and learned. When I started talking with Rachel at Lexham about this book, I wanted to write something that invited people into this really practical but also deeply spiritual work. I wanted to help people see that in planting seeds and working the ground, or even in the hardest parts of winter, God is near and revealing Himself to us … if only we’ll slow down enough to see.

The basic idea of A Bit of Earth is that God is near in every season of this world and in our lives. There is no season, storm, or harvest that he is not sovereign, good, and present. As we join him in the garden or wherever that may be in creation, he’s also working in us. I wanted this book to be like a close friend to the reader. A kind of companion for everyday life of a gardener throughout the year, or anyone who wants to know what each season of life might look like for the nature-bent believer.

LP: What contribution do you hope to make with your book?
Burke: I hope that through this book, no matter who picks it up, gardener or not, a reader will find a strong thread tied between this tangible world and our Creator. That they would walk away from a chapter and notice more about the world around them. That someone might decide to start growing their own garden, meet their local farmer, close the gap a bit more between the field and the table. But even more so, I hope that someone would begin to see how the Lord is at work in every small and tiny thing, even the snow, the storms, and the seeds. I truly hope this book becomes the kind of book someone can return to again and again, no matter where life brings them. I want people to have copies of this that are dirt-stained and water-damaged from a hose and have muddy thumb prints or dog-eared pages, and they come back to it again and again through life.

LP: Andrea, can you tell us a particularly surprising or enjoyable aspect of writing your book?
Burke: I was able to write the majority of this book during peak gardening season for me. It was so fun to take real-time stories with my kids or my own experiences and weave them into the chapters. I remember the day we harvested potatoes, or when the kids knocked the Japanese Beetles off of the fence, and I’d make tiny notes in my phone to remember the details later. I still think about the chapter about weeds when I’m weeding my garden. Learning to take my own advice to weed early and weed often. I remember the day we burned the remainder of the brush and I watched my husband keep watch over the fire, and that whole chapter just unfolded before my eyes. It was so special to be able to see the world not just in real time, but through a sort of literary time capsule as well.

LP: Last of all, can you share something surprising about yourself that only your friends would know?
Burke: Oh gosh, I feel like a very open book with most people in my life and there’s really not much that people don’t know about me. One thing my friends know about me is that I really hate sweets. Like — I cannot eat them, at all. Sugar tastes really gross to me at this point in my life (I haven’t always been this way) and I count it as some kind of mysterious grace from God. When my friends are breaking out the desserts, I always opt for a jar of pickles and pepperoncinis, OR I love a straight lemon or lime. The more sour, the better. (It’s amazing I still have taste buds!)