As June arrives on the farm, we are clearing out the remaining Ellie’s Eden garden starts, sending them to customers who need to do some last-minute planting. Some folks get a late start due to unexpected circumstances, and we like to be sure we can help out.
But for us on the farm, the planting is largely over. It is looking pretty green around here! June is haying season – it seems hard to believe we are already approaching our first hay cutting and the yellowing of the landscape.
I like to spend some time really feasting my eyes on all the flourishing green plants in the fields. And while it isn’t quite a feast for the stomach yet, we are beginning to munch on the early radishes, lettuces, and greens. There is nothing quite like those first nibbles from the garden after all the hard work and eager anticipation has built up—the efforts are beginning to pay off in mouthfuls of fresh produce! I look across the crops and feel a mixture of wonder that the earth has done it yet again and gratitude that I have been a part of it. There is a deep and abiding satisfaction knowing that being faithful in the little things (planting seeds) has brought us to this point where it was all worth it—there is no stopping the abundance that is certain to come from these fields. Very soon, there will be huge piles of produce practically bursting from the land, and it will be all we can do – for weeks on end – to fill our bushels and barrels with the harvest. Sow a little, reap a lot…
And, as I look over the vibrant, emerald green fields, almost glowing with life, it occurs to me that our lives, when lived rightly, bear out this principle....
It is often said that necessity is the mother of invention, meaning great ideas or new processes arise from a pressing need. Usually things become overwhelming or burdensome before we look for a better way. I have learned in my lifetime that there is always a better way. It has me thinking though, that maybe we would be better served if we stop before we become overwhelmed and look for that better way before we reach crisis.
When you have those moments looking out over your plentiful garden, and everything is progressing as it should, pause and consider the ways you can make the ‘better way’ for your life. Whether changing how you eat, efficiencies in your household or garden, or investing in your relationships, always take the opportunity to be intentional and plan for ways to improve. You are sure to reap the rewards.
Author
David Stelzer didn’t plan to become the CEO of the largest independent health food distributor in the nation. No, each day’s challenges lead to the next day’s solutions, and Azure was the result. On a family farm, home life is integrated with farm life. And as David sought places to sell what grew on the farm, farm life became integrated with the distribution of the farm products. So, even today, farming and Azure are all “David’s life”, without a clear line between work-time, hobby-time, and family-time. Like the saying goes, “Do something you love and you never have to work a day in your life.” Like the saying goes, “Do something you love and you never have to work a day in your life.”
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