Starting with Gratitude, on the Way to Joy

Humbled by Simple Gifts Wrapped in Dirt and Weeds

Sometimes the smallest acts of kindness speak brotherly love the loudest, and make the biggest impact.

Wednesday night as we finished a late dinner of pasta and fresh garden greens with goat cheese, Farmer Husband worked on finishing the Fresco (fresh cheese) he was making, and in the golden light of pre-dusk I walked across the in-need-of-mowing-again-soon grass out to the garden, to survey the areas most in need of weeding next and formulate my plan for Thursday's work. 

 

Weed-free green beans!

I stopped and stared in amazement at the area previously recently known as "Weed Alley" - otherwise known as the five-foot wide row toward the back of the garden plot where I'd planted two types of carrot seeds this Spring - that now stood in weed-free glory! 

Taking their time to sprout (as carrots always seem to do), the area had become overrun with weeds soon on in the season, before I could clearly see any little carrot seedlings poking up. As time went on and the rest of the garden required weeding, and other projects around the farm vied for my attention, this one particular area quickly got out of control, with the weeds surpassing two feet in height, and my tedious efforts over parts of several recent days spent on hands and knees in the dirt revealing only a sparse sprinkling of a few spindly surviving carrot sprouts, over a roughly 5' by 15' area, with another 20' of the row yet unweeded.

 

But Wednesday afternoon one of our young farm volunteers came by and spent some time in the garden helping. She happily toiled away as I prepared dinner and Farmer Husband began the cheese-making process. She had said she would stop when she got about one quarter of the way across the roughly 20 feet that was left to weed, but apparently decided to surprise me by finishing the entire area. She stopped in the Stone Cottage to say goodbye, we sent her off with a quart of fresh goat milk, and it wasn't until after dinner that I walked out and saw the miracle she had made happen!

The area previously known as "Weed Alley"

Still in pleasant shock, walking back toward the front of the garden to grab a bucket and work on weeding another small area until the mosquitos came out or it got too dark to see well, I stopped in amazement again, as a completely weed-free been aisle greeted my gaze. 

I had made it only half way down that row weeding earlier in the day, before some friends who are helping us practice a CSA (community supported agriculture) on a very small scale for the first time this year had arrived. They harvested a large bowl full of the prolific green beans that arrived en force this week, a few small zucchini, and salad greens. Then while the young lady mentioned earlier helped me tie up some of our now gigantic, sprawling tomato plants, our friend said he would pull a few weeds before he had to leave. Little did I know that he would finish weeding the entire bean row while we were busy working with the tomatoes!

A section of hog panel fencing 

and some used bailing twine come in handy 

in MANY situations on the farm.

And, what is so remarkable about two of the many areas in the garden being weeded, that it would wind up here in today's blog, you may ask?

Since transitioning to full time farm woman in March, one of my biggest challenges has been making the best use of my time here to accomplish all those things Farmer Husband and I daydreamed about and discussed day after day, that never seemed possible with both of us working off-farm. But sometimes it seems like I get so caught up in just the daily tasks, that all those other projects we talked about aren't getting done, and I in turn feel like I am letting him down when he has to still come home and work on routine things instead of dreams-coming-true, or just-plain-fun things. And then it viciously comes back around the circle when I do set aside time to work on those projects, and see weeds growing in the routine tasks. "It's not enough, I'm falling behind..."

Looking again at the freshly weeded green bean row, and the now bare ground previously known as Weed Alley, laying clean and ready for a second try / fall planting of carrots (and maybe a couple other yummy things) I set an empty bucket beside me and kneeled in the dirt, pulling weeds from the sweet corn row as the dusk grew heavier, and my pride and frustration and overwhelmed exhaustion was uprooted by humble, refreshing gratitude. Greater peace ebbed in with every pull, until finally the dusk and mosquitoes nudged me back into the house, dirt-covered but cleaner of heart.

Ready for paint

Thursday all the same routine tasks presented themselves, and I met them with a renewed spirit, afterwards picking up a brush again and covering more of the walls in the Long Time Ago Was Soon to Be Again Milk Room with fresh coat of white paint. 

The afternoon brought a farewell to one of our goat kids, Super Nova, who went to live at his forever home as a new herd sire for a beautiful little family.

First bit of painting started

And still smiling every time I passed by the  newly weeded spots of Grace in the garden, I started chores early ahead of a mid-week evening out with Farmer Husband. Freshening up after the day's work, we headed into town for a night of deep fried food, carnival rides, and some rodeo watching, at our local county fair. 

As the Tilt-A-Whirl spun us ever and faster around, Joy circled back into my soul on the wings of Peace, and I again was humbled by the tremendous gift that our friends had given Wednesday night, wrapped in garden dirt and weeds. 

~~~

With the sun rising over a new day once again, let us not be afraid to get a little dirt under our fingernails, and a little sweat on our brows, as we show our love for those around us. A little help pulling a few weeds from their garden may be all those around us need sometimes to open the door to Joy back up in their hearts.

 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”~Galatians 5:14