The beauty that surrounds us

: Our garden border

July 9, 2011

There is beauty everywhere you look. It’s just that we often don’t take the time to see it. Our garden border is made up of cone flowers, daylillys and daisies. They come back every year and all I have to do is a little weeding. They used to have a picket fence behind them, but it fell into disrepair. I took it down and will replace it with a simple, white ,two board fence one day soon.

In our world there are lots of not so nice things. I try not to focus in the ugliness. I am aware of it, I try to correct what I can, but I don’t want it to drag me down. I look for the bright side. When rain makes my hay wet, I tell myself that the pastures and gardens need the drink. When snow makes it difficult to get around, I look at the pristine white landscape and see the sun dance off the flakes like diamonds.

I don’t spray herbicides, so I have a few weeds. The Canadian thistle has a very pretty bloom that attracts the Monarch butterfly. I hoe quite a few, but leave some for the beautiful butterfly that floats around my farm. The brush and weeds that grow in my fence rows are home to many pasture birds. The blue birds and finches land on the wires feasting on small seeds and bugs. The color of those birds is magnificent!

In my yard the dandelions grow unabated. They flourish in early summer much to the disapproval of my wife. I like the bright yellow flower. It brightens my day. The sheep love both the flower and the greens. A bouquet of the hollow stemmed, drops of sunshine ,in the small hand of a child, warms my heart and touches my soul.

Manure is made daily here on the farm. I have to shovel, fork, push and sweep as I work on the never-ending task of cleanup. I realize that the nutrients found in the droppings have helped to make my farm a beautiful place, so I even enjoy those tasks.

I like to look into the eyes of an old farmer, as he looks around my place. The stock is well cared for, the gardens well-tended and I can’t help but gush about my love of farming. In his eyes, I see contentment, approval and pride. I see the pathway to heaven and the love of my ancestors, as they too approve my efforts. It’s that gleam in the quiet of an eye, the smile on the face of a child and the love on the lips of a kiss, that lets me know I am doing what I was intended to do… and believe me brother…there is beauty in that!

One response to “The beauty that surrounds us”

Semi-wild Bill

July 10, 2011

I really understand what you are talkiing about when you say beauty is all around us we just need to take the time to see it. When I was recuperating from my recent illness I couldn’t do much but sit on the back porch and watch the birds. I never realized how many different kinds there were and how colorful they were. I started a hummingbird feeder and filled a regular feeder with some cracked corn and sunflower seeds that I had harvested and dried from my garden the previous year. If you want to know the definition of red just look at the cardinal when the sun is shining on him.

RicelandMeadows