Farm work can, at times, be overwhelming and emotionally draining – especially when dealing with the harsh realities of nature. Today was like that for me. Fresh from a very productive weekend harvesting, marketing and moving chickens I reviewed our recently started ‘crops’ only to find that the lettuce wasn’t germinating (again!); the recently germinated carrots had even more recently suffered an assault by an army of mini-slugs that have apparently also recently ‘germinated’ in warmth of our greenhouse; and the spinach, radishes and mustard greens that I planted a month ago had been overtaken by weeds. In the midst of my dispair I happened to notice the peas – those steady, cool-loving, large-seeded sweeties, poking their green tendrilish shoots out of the soil, unbothered by weeds, the damp, the cold or – at least for the time being – by slugs and I instantly felt better. All I can say is thank God for peas! They were just what I needed to see today.
