Farmer as Quintessential

Tools of the Trade     It isn’t how we think it should go: by cutting back, we strengthen the core. Pruning is painful! It means relinquishing possibilities in order to direct attention and vitality in a considered way. The focus, hopefully, is for the good of the whole, whether that be the whole of… Read more »

Discipline in Farming

Beginning visit with Valley Oak     The method is simple: suspend rational thought, forget what you think you know about what you are seeing, lay down the mantle of ownership. Simply be. With your hand— or in your mind’s eye— draw the plant. Get every detail: the way the leaf curls inward on the… Read more »