Being Present

What can I say, I’ve just be picking tomatoes since we last spoke. It’s true my days are measured by how many flats of this tomato variety or that tomato variety I have harvested.

I shuffle through the tomato rows quietly bobbing up and down as I pick tomatoes. I sometimes listen to music but I find more enjoyment just listening to what is going on around me. The rumble of tractors in nearby vineyards. The cooing of mourning doves flying into the trees. The dull roar of the trucks going down the road. The quail signalling to each other from the bushes. The screech of the red-tail hawk soaring overhead. The rustle of leaves as a lizard runs away.

A dragonfly resting on a tomato stake

I delight in being aware of my surroundings, present in what is going on. I find that I need this time and space to get away from noise. To eliminate the digital audio distractions that fill most of my day from car radio, to my smart phone, the videos on my computer, or the movies watched at night. Just being outside, in the world unconnected is important for me.