Precious Moments

There is a lot to be learned from farming, beyond the farming itself. I'm talking about life lessons like patience, resilience, courage, and fostering community.

If you jump the gun and plant too early there is a chance that a frost will still come and the plants won't thrive. Patience is key.

If you plant bed after bed with lettuce and pests keep coming and eating all your crop you keep trying different methods until you find one that works. Resilience.

When something comes up that you have never experienced before you greet the challenge. Courage.

And when the challenge is too tough for one person to handle you ask your neighbors and friends for help and guidance. Community.

Ever since I saw a basil plant go to seed I felt something magical occurring. Here was this leafy, delicate plant about to die. What was it doing? It was bolting - putting up this big shoot, doubling it's size, that many flowers would soon grow from. It didn't just shrivel up and turn brown. It grew and grew. It attracted various pollinators with its many flowers and then it went to seed. The sign of a dying plant is one that is producing it's seed. Getting ready to live on through generations to come.

I'm not quite ready to believe that my dad is really gone, but that time may never come. I feel comforted thinking about the lessons and cycles of farming. That death brings new life. When I think of death as a bolting plant I feel comforted. I feel comforted thinking that my dad went to seed, that death is not final and all the memories that we hold of him will carry him through many more generations. The heartache I feel will not pass soon. Patience, resilience, and courage will get me through. Above all, my sisters, family and friends- my community- will bring comfort and give guidance when I need it most.

Oh how surprising life can be. Each challenge along the way helps create who we are and the life story we leave behind.

I have big plans for my future. I'll be the first to say that the future makes me a little nervous. Unpredictability makes me nervous. Not knowing makes me nervous.

There is something out there that tells a seed when to sprout and a plant when to seed. I find comfort in knowing that some things are simply beyond my control.

I love you forever, Dad.