Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Hope for a New Day - Favorite Faux Phauxtos

Like many things we might like to do, this mini-project may end up being only one blog post long.  Or, it may become a small series if the mood strikes.  Every once in a while, the creative bone my body wants to do something.  In this case, we've recorded some nice pictures of the farm (and elsewhere) that we enjoy sharing.  And, many of those pictures make us think things that might also be worth sharing.

So, here is our first offering of what we consider to be excellent pictures.  Remember, we are not trained photographers, nor do we claim to know anything about composition, etc etc. 

If you want to get a better view, click on the picture and view it at a larger size.

This picture was taken in mid-July of 2010, in the evening after a rainy and stormy day.  We don't recall if we got more rain right after that or not.  But, the background story here is that we had been getting lots of rain at the time.  We were watching plants die as they drowned in standing water in our fields.  And, there wasn't a single thing we could do about it.

Normally, at this time of year, we're beginning to ramp up the quantity of vegetables in our shares.  We should have been looking forward to the increase in crop availability and diversity - and worrying about how we would pick and distribute it all.  But, instead, we were dreading having to tell people that we'd lost more crops.  We did not look forward to going to CSA distributions feeling like we had to apologize for less than stellar amounts of produce.  On top of it all, we'd just invested a huge chunk of money in putting up our high tunnel.  Doubt, fear, worry, stress and fatigue were all appropriate words to describe our state of being at the time.

You might figure a picture of a dark, stormy or brooding sky would be appropriate for how we felt at the time.  And, perhaps it would be.  Except I remember how we felt when we saw this evening sky and how beautiful it was.  It was the end of the day.  We were tired.  We were depressed.  And, we still ran to grab the camera in order to take a couple dozen shots.

Soon after that, things began to dry out and we started to shift our focus to growing lots of short season fall crops.  We fought through the adversity even though we were sorely tempted to tell everyone we were finished for the year.  And, best of all, we reminded ourselves of our blessings and the positive things in our lives - including the ability to recognize and enjoy nature's beauty.

Lest you think that the trials of 2010's growing season ended when July did, we can truly say that we are still fighting battles that began during that difficult time.  But, we can also point to dozens of innovations and alterations in what we do, how we do it and how we think about it that came as a result of the struggles we went through at that time.  And, we can also tell you how valuable these changes have been for us.

Perhaps this sky reminded us to hope.  And in doing so, it gave us something more.  A will to persevere and live life.  And...

It's just a darned good looking picture.

Merry Christmas everyone.

Rob & Tammy

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