6/19/2019

Dear Farm Journal,

When life gets ugly, sometimes you just have to let it go and focus on what is beautiful. I’m finding fresh ways to do that today. For the second time this season, I rescued an exhausted butterfly from fluttering helplessly against the inside of the hot greenhouse plastic. The first butterfly was a monarch, today it was a tiger swallowtail. The clear plastic of the greenhouses seems to confuse the birds and butterflies around the farm and they sometimes get trapped and fly repeatedly into the sides, whipping themselves into a futile fervor. I heard the frantic fluttering behind me, put down the broad fork, and approached the bright yellow butterfly. I put out my hand and it rested on my palm as I walked it out into the open air, where, just like the monarch it flew to an impressive altitude. As it glided on an easy breeze, I could sense a sort of gratitude. There is something beautiful about a simple act of kindness that can never be repaid. I noticed this in Rufus right away. He is always rescuing little creatures; moving a snake or turtle out of the road, shooing a frog out of danger, or gently rescuing trapped birds. The sweetness of a connective kinship with our fellow living beings is what I choose to focus on today as I transform our gardens and my mind. 

~Joy

 

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