farmersmarket365

Despite the wet, heavy soil this week the touch of warmer spring air made it just right to plant peas. The weeds pulled away easily, the soil moved aside forming the furrow where the wrinkled pea seeds were placed. I carefully covered the row and patted the earth, “be well my little peas to be”.  Warm weather and sufficient water are still needed to bring these peas to life again and it will be some time, however the optimist in me can’t keep me from checking each day for some sign of growth and then just when I think all is lost I suddenly see the small green shoot pushing its way out of the soil.   It fills me with such joy and never, ever gets old.

As you may have read on a previous post, my granddaughter has asked me to join her on a journey to explore her interest in being a farmer.  There is a lot to do and to encounter the twists and turns along the way is filled with memory making experiences.

We spent two days visiting several farms, interviewing the farmers and getting a tour.  She was able to hear their wisdom and honesty about the different sides of farming: the amazing experience of birth and the inevitable sadness of death, the joy of seeing baby animals to the bleakness of an apple orchard in March, the buds just trying to hang on.  Her clipboard papers were filled with notes and she had many photos and videos to be sorted and arranged.

Chloe and I have worked together on a farm many times before this, but what made this so much different is that besides the fun and infinite things to do I could see the germination of her thoughts and feelings about just what farming really means.  So like the peas, it will most likely take some time for her head and heart to develop what this all means for her.  In the meantime, I’ll keep listening and watching.