Pickin’ Up Sticks

James Gilbert
Sep 2, 2018 · 2 min read

Most orchards use a tractor to move all of the prunings (cut-off branches) from winter into a big pile and burn it. The farm I was at, though, didn’t have a tractor, but they did have a chipper.

I was out in the orchard in early spring on one of the first days of the year that I could see only green on the ground. It was just me out there picking up prunings and making piles for the chipper. Hours went by and I was still picking up sticks. As I grew physically and mentally tired, I reactively wondered why the hell I was picking up sticks as a job and trying to make a career out of this kind of work, but then I had a realization. I wasn’t out there just picking up sticks. I was actually helping the farm to become a closed fertility cycle. Whether or not chipping will remain a practice on the farm in the future is irrelevant. The point is, during that time, I was picking up sticks so that they could be chipped so that those chips could break down into the soil and increase soil fertility so that the old apple trees I was working with could produce quality fruit on their own without the use of synthetic fertilizers and sprays.

I had glimpses of that mode of thinking last year when I was working on a production vegetable field, such as during the countless hours of weeding I did. As I got tired mentally and physically, I became aware that I was weeding so that our customers could receive beautiful organic produce.

That time in the orchard in early spring this year, however, was a particularly vivid moment of holding a space of macro patience while completing a micro task. As the season went on, I continued to engage in this way of thinking while doing many other repetitive tasks on the farm that used to feel monotonous. Even though I still felt frustrated, sad, or confused at times, my will to complete any task from that point on was strong because I learned to see functional work beyond its present form.

James Gilbert

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Agricultural tellings from a young and beginning farmer