Mick McEvoy of the Happy Farm and Plum Village Rewilding Project shares insights and offers simple, nourishing practices and reflections inspired by the summer to help you care for your own well-being, and touch the insight of interbeing between people, plants, all beings and Earth.
Humility
By mid summer at Plum Village Happy Farm, we have most of our crops in the ground. Things are sort of under control (spoiler: things are never under control). There has been a lot of hard and loving work. We have raised these plants from seed. We have nursed them and planted them in the field. Together we have navigated challenging weather like late frosts and protected them from any number of wild animals and insects that want to eat them before we can. We will keep them watered and weed free and offer them the specific care they each call for as best we can.
Now we can enjoy a collective exhalation as we rest a while in the summer sun. At this point in the year we are called to cultivate a certain amount of letting go. Not totally letting go! But partial letting go, because the work that we have offered is in some way coming to the end of a significant chapter. Now, non farmer elements take control. Rain, sun, soil, wind and pollinating insects.
Take for example our pumpkin crop. If it doesn’t rain the pumpkin plant will not thrive, maybe even die. If the sun doesn’t shine long enough and warm enough the plants will not flower and the fruits (the pumpkins) will never ripen. Before the fruit develops we depend on a multitude of pollinating insects to visit the flowers and to collect nectar and pollen and in so doing, pollinate the pumpkin plants. As farmers we clearly cannot control the rain, sun or insects. Neither can we conduct the orchestra of life within the soil. This soil which the pumpkins have rooted into deeply. The mystery of soil life needs to come together in a harmonious way so that we have healthy plants and abundant, delicious pumpkins.
Now in summer with our fields planted, we step back, let go a little and cultivate humility. Humility borne out of the reality that as farmers we are only a small part of this process of farming. It is the multitude of non farmer elements that create the edible harvest. This reality is humbling.
The word human is derived from the word ‘humus’. Humus is the dark organic matter in soil that is formed by the decomposition of plant and animal matter. Humus is the life giving element of our soils from which all plants grow. The word humility is also derived from the word ‘humus’. In the words of Vandana Shiva,
To be truly human is to be of the soil and to be truly human is to be humble
Vandana Shiva
We can try our best to let go of any certainty of an abundant harvest and cultivate humility in our limited role as farmers. These miraculous natural processes of growth, pollination and ripening are beyond our control. We try our very best to let go a little, to intentionally practice not knowing and to cultivate humility, remembering to be human is to be of the soil.
Ripening in every moment
This summer many of our young plum trees were laden with a heavy crop of plums for the first time. But when will they be ready to harvest? When will they be ripe? One of our farmers decided to harvest some of these plums when they were still quite green and not yet ripe. This led to some heated conversations about waiting for just the optimal moment of ripeness before harvesting. Thankfully the plums ripened in storage after being harvested so we could still enjoy them.
This experience points to a deep teaching that summer can offer us, this is the teaching of ‘Ripening in Every Moment’. When we started the Happy Farm in Upper Hamlet thirteen years ago Thich Nhat Hanh offered us a deep and challenging Zen teaching. He shared with us, ‘There is no way to harvest. To harvest is the way’. What he was teaching us is that we don’t have to wait for that optimal moment of ripeness of those plums to enjoy the harvest. But with mindfulness and concentration, intention and awareness we can enjoy a harvest from that plum tree every time we set eyes on it and spend time in its company.
We enjoy the harvest as we are present with the experience of planting the tree, watering and weeding, pruning and mulching. Not just the moment when we pick the fruit from the tree. This is the teaching of ripening in every moment. With the sun and warm rains of summer, our crops are ripening a little more every day. But we don’t need to press pause as we cultivate individual and collective well being, waiting until the moment when we have that juicy plum in our hands. Every moment on and off the farm and the land, every moment together in community, and those delicious moments enjoying time on our own are opportunities to harvest well being.
Every moment there is ripening. In every moment we can harvest. We just need to stop and then look deeply into this present moment. You can try and do that right now as you read. Stop. Look deeply at the multitude of conditions for well being within and around you. Cultivate well being. Enjoy your harvest. Each summer offers us so many conditions to harvest well being, edible and otherwise. What will you harvest?
Reflective Practices
If you feel called to learn from the wisdom of summer here are a few practices you could explore.
- Cultivate humility.
“To be truly human is to be of the soil and to be truly human is to be humble.”
Journal or contemplate on the multitude of ways that Earth and soil support your life, the lives of loved ones you cherish and all life on Earth. Explore those connections through sitting outdoors in your sit spot, walking meditation outdoors or perhaps gardening.
- Ripening in each moment.
Spend time outdoors in the natural world, in the garden or park, at the beach or in the forest, time on your own or time with others. Every moment is an opportunity to harvest well being. Every moment there is ripening. We just need to stop and then look deeply into this present moment. Stop. Look deeply at the multitude of conditions for well being within and around you. Cultivate well being. Enjoy your harvest. Each summer offers us so many conditions to harvest well being, edible and otherwise. What will you harvest?
Resources
Join the conversation