Why I Haven’t Been Writing

Sometimes it’s impossible to write about something when it happens.  It takes time to accept, ponder, digest, and sort through all the feelings.  Since my Dad died a couple of months ago, I’ve been struggling with writing.  Well, that’s not exactly true – I struggled for a while and then I just gave up. 

A couple of weeks ago I read an email by Andi Cumbo-Floyd that captured exactly how I was feeling. 

“When we write, we open ourselves, we peel back the protective coverings of rehearsed memories and staid responses.  We become vulnerable – in those moments when we do this writing thing with all of ourselves – and we find new joys and new sorrows that we have yet to understand.

Perhaps that is why Flannery O’Connor said, “Anybody who has survived his childhood has enough information about life to last him the rest of his days.” 

So brace yourselves, friends, for the things you know will hurt when you write them. Care for yourselves so that you don’t reharm yourself in the writing.  But also know, that one of the great beauties of writing is that it takes you places for which you cannot be prepared, and it helps you find hope there.”

Often writing has been that for me, working through things, discovering, sorting it through.  And it turns out I’m not ready to do that with my Dad yet.  It seemed like I was supposed to, surely I could write something for Father’s Day, right?  But the words wouldn’t come, even when I tried to force it. 

The time will come to write about my Dad, but for now I want to write about other things. There’s so much happening right now and most of it is wondrous and beautiful and I want to share it with you. For now, please enjoy these pictures of what’s been happening at the farm lately. Oh, and let me know what you’ve been up to as well by leaving a comment or posting on Facebook!

The first veggie every spring!

A bumper crop of cherries!

And the resulting cherry pie!

Red, golden, and wild black raspberries

Strawberry Moon!

One of my two birthday cakes. It was a great birthday!

I’m making some cordial with these wild blackberries

Broccoli

Snow peas

Green and not so green beans

Kale

And more kale

What’s a garden without zucchini?

Garlic that we planted last fall and harvested this week!