Different Peaces
The flowers on the farm are bursting open. I cut what I need and leave the others for the bees. It’s a beautiful sea of yellow and orange.
When I harvest a bed, I don’t remove the debris either – for the most part. It goes in the pathways. This isn’t laziness. It’s actually very good for the soil and the ecosystem. There are insects that still have business to transact in that bush. The fallen ‘debris’ acts as a mulch. Conventional gardeners sometimes forget –or simply don’t know- that when you strip all the greenery away to give you clean pathways, it causes your soil to dry out more readily. In the end, it’s not good for it. Of course, no one is compelled to follow my method – there are other ways to mulch – but I rather like the chop and drop system. For me it just seems like the closed circuit of ingredients benefits the area more. It seems logical to my mind but of course I could be wrong. And I am so opposed to weeding – it is such a waste of energy when you’re farming – that I avoid it wherever possible – which is another reason I keep green pathways and cover the beds as much as possible.
Anywho, the farm is a picture (especially after I weed-whacked it a few days ago lol). And since it sits in a community area, it makes me happy to think that the passers-by find joy in it too. Of course, I always worry about what people think on the flipside of that coin, but it’s useless to spend your energy on that so I fight it.
It’s apparently not a great idea to harvest when it’s raining or your flowers are wet. But I did that yesterday. Not ideal conditions, but you don’t always have those do you? It was so refreshing to be at the farm with no one around and to have a beautifully overcast day that started falling as soon as I started my work. That, for me, is the absolute perfect condition. I had the joy of walking around in the beautiful rain, in the curtain of its safety. It always makes me feel like it creates a divider between me and others and I appreciate that. Potential threats in the form of people are driven inside and I have the freedom that comes from this world – this world less liked by others.
I suppose it comes from a place of being bullied. On the average day, they (the bullies) seemed to be alive and well – and I felt the brunt of that. But when it rained, the change, the coziness of the sound on the tin roof, the slight chill in the atmosphere and the knowledge that the nasty sun-worshippers would be withdrawn into their sweaters made me happy. Call it what you want. I don’t care lol.
But on the other hand, I have nothing against people who love sunshine. Why should I dislike someone who simply has a different opinion from me? But if God created both rain and sun, I suppose the rain was made to be loved just as much as the sun. If I like apples and you like oranges, it doesn’t mean that either tastes bad. I have found that of the people I know though, most prefer sunny days. And I wish them all the joy in their sunny world, as I find in my rainy one ;)
But I do feel that my love for rain goes deeper than just my history with trauma. I have met at least a couple other persons, like myself, who feel invigorated by rain. I love seeing the gray clouds make their slow pilgrimage over the blue sky – the darker the clouds the prettier. I love when the day promises, not just scattered showers, but a lovely gray hue all day. Try this: when it’s overcast, go outside and look at the colors around you. You’ll find that the colors are richer. Bright light washes out color (this isn’t my bias, it’s just a fact), whereas rainclouds create softer, more even light – much like some of the tools photographers use to manipulate lighting. I love being outside when the wind starts picking up. Sometimes I sit on my back porch steps and just enjoy the tactile feeling of the drops hitting my skin and of being soaked. I know most people won’t understand but it does bring me a lot of peace. I even like driving in it.
Well, enough of that. I don’t think I started this blog with the intention of talking about this, but that’s what it turned out to be.
I named my farm ‘Lovely Rain’ because I wanted to communicate the thought- for any who hadn’t considered it and to validate those of us who already do – that rain is a beautiful thing. And I hope this blog creates a few minutes for people to, not necessarily change, but at least consider it from another side of the room. We grow so much when we take the time to walk around in another man’s shoes.
Wouldn’t you agree? ;)
See you next Saturday!
Toodles!
Kerri.
