Today in the orchard
Weeding crew
The big effort today was to weed the young nursery trees. Stay on the weeds or the little trees will disappear forever. It was wet early, and the mosquitoes were hungry; but by noon the sun was beaming down on planet Earth, and we congregated at the nursery. The mosquitoes retired to the tall grass and water-barrels. Four of us (Alyssa Gavlik, Kevin ?, Skylar and I) held a weeding-bee for the afternoon and were able to weed about 500 small trees. That gave us hours to catch up on a bit of nearly everything. By the end of the day the Nursery was magnificently weedless.
Weeding is an essential activity on the farm and in the orchard. To do it well we must dive deeply into the weeding and love what we do. It is not easy, and it takes time. But, it can be fun and joyful. It reminds me of what Thich Nhat Hahn often said about doing dishes. The two activities are not that different.
“I enjoy taking my time with each dish, being fully aware of the dish, the water, and each movement of my hands. I know that if I hurry in order to be able to finish so I can sit down sooner and eat dessert or enjoy a cup of tea, the time of washing dishes will be unpleasant and not worth living. That would be a pity, for each minute, each second of life is a miracle. The dishes themselves and the fact that I am here washing them are miracles!” Thich Nhat Hahn
