Tomorrow’s Harvest

The seasonal transition from Summer to Fall is well underway in our neck of the woods. The leaves are already starting to blanket the ground, the temperatures are dropping, the light is shifting and the final blackberries have been picked and frozen. All season long I feel protective of the vines, I actually coach my kids how to handle these precious canes. It’s a challenge to pick the ripe fruit while protecting that which still needs time to ripen. Often long climber shoots make it nearly impossible to get the best berries. The reality is those pesky thorny vines blocking you today are the same vines that will produce next year’s berries.

Thanking the plants for the harvest they provide is my daily spiritual practice in gratitude. So many things in life are just like blackberry vines (or gardens in general). By mindfully tending the thorns in our life we can often harvest more in the future. On the final day of picking satisfaction and excitement wash over me as I decide which berry will be the season’s last; and then I remind myself that next year’s harvest has every chance to be the best one yet.

To balance life out my goats could care less about any of this and LOVE to eat blackberries. Goats live in the moment and for the now. There is no future harvest in the life of a goat, there is only the berry vine in front of them, which also has some wisdom. So this is how I strike balance in life. On one hand blackberries are precious and on the other my beloved goats are happy to chomp them down.

Visit us soon and you can feed the goats, not blackberries, but some of their favorite treats like carrots and sunflower seeds. Working with animals brings so much new perspective. The goats often force me to stop and think about why I care so much about everything and remind me that it is alright to just eat some berries and enjoy the moment.