The Work Behind the Beauty

Hello friends, family and neighbors of Third Way Farm!

​I wanted to let you know that I, Tommy Shireman, co-owner of Third Way Farm, will be offering this month’s Return of Robinhood blog post with some reflections on the beauty of spring and the unseen work that lays behind it. We will miss our dear friend and intern Kate who has done an amazing job writing blogs this past year. I hope you enjoy a change of author for this new season!

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As the dawn breaks on the dew-covered blades of springs’ lush young grass, we witness the world awakening again from its winter slumber. Alas, by April, spring is, at least in Maryland’s climate, already well into its “rise and shine” process. On the farm, we joyfully welcome the pasture’s flush of rich new growth that heralds an end to the labor of lugging hay out to the cattle and sheep. Each day now these ruminants anxiously await our arrival to let them into their new daily paddock, brimming with the tender, nutrient dense forages of new spring growth. The chickens cluck with renewed excitement at the prospects of worms and other bugs surfacing amongst these same bright green grasses. Adorable new lambs are born almost daily on the pasture, as their mothers breathe sighs of relief after a long winter carrying and nurturing them underneath their thick warm wool. 

Even more vividly, the beautiful colors of tulips, ranunculus, and daffodils explode out from their long winter dormancy. The white arugula and yellow kale flowers stretch up quickly on their way to producing seed, the next generation to carry on the species into the already dawning new season. How much more beautiful and breath-catching these bursts of color and life are against the backdrop of the long, bleak, mostly colorless winter we’ve come through?

In our modern world of “have it now” instant gratification, it can be difficult, especially when we are not regularly in touch with creation, to fully appreciate these wonders of spring and all that needed to happen to make them possible. You see, each of those radiant pastel tulip blossoms was actually many months in the making, underground in the dark. While winter’s winds and biting cold keep us cozy inside by a fire, flowers, trees, and even vegetables like garlic or carrots are lying dormant but yet alive and active despite these harsh conditions. For months their roots or bulbs are storing up and carefully allocating sugar and carbohydrate reserves that they accumulated throughout the prior season of growth and photosynthesis. Thus in fact, in some ways we can say these bright buds and blossoms of spring are actually about a year in the making! Similarly, our ewes persist for 5 months through the challenges of winter still feeding and nourishing the growing lambs inside of them, a tiring and demanding work of motherhood. There is serious time and work put into these wonders we are privileged witness. 

Thus, the brilliance and awe of spring’s colors and new life are most vividly beheld by they who understand and recognize the incredible work and perseverance that lay behind them. 

It isn't so unlike the journey of self-healing, or the inner work we must do at times when we face trauma, personal crisis, or just “growing up.” For many of us, it might take numerous long, grueling winters to ever get a glimpse of our first spring “buds” of transformation or hope. It can seem impossible to believe that spring is coming for us when we go day after day seeing no changes on the surface - a numbing monotony of bare branches, brown grass, a ewe’s womb still holding that lamb inside. But yet, as with the flowers and the mother sheep, it is only because of this unseen but deeply important work going on underground and inside that the moments of true joy to come are possible.  

What do we know of that person’s journey who was rude to us at the checkout counter? What kind of roots are being grown beneath the tears and anger of our teenage children? And what stored wisdom and potential for new life are waiting to be born in you when you refuse to see that a “spring” of renewed life may be just around the corner of your March? For spring’s bright and exhilarating colors are only beautiful in that they are viewed from the eyes of those who have trudged through the muck and mire of winter. 

So may you, if you find yourself struggling to smile at that pastel pink tulip and gloss over the vibrant green hue of April’s pastures, be reminded that your strivings are not in vain! Your spring may yet be to come. In fact, April isn't the only month of spring! Every year on the farm I’m reminded that each crop, each plant, has its own timing. Even though our plum, cherry, and Asian pear trees are budding and flowering right now, these stubborn Jujube trees wont budge until May! But doesn't that make some of those “late bloomers” all the more spectacular to witness? Perhaps it is the longer process, the more inner work and underground rooting that needs to happen so that your bursting forth in a palette of unparalleled color can be truly appreciated for the miracle it IS. 

And therefore, may you find the richness of spring’s color, sweetness, and new life all the more rewarding this season, as you remember the often hidden and hard work that undergirds it!