Summer celebration

By BECKY NELSON
Bramblings
By Becky Nelson

The heat is on. Summer is here. Things are growing, things are ripening, crops need to be harvested. It is our busiest time of the year as we tend the growing things, harvest the ready-to-pick things, supervise the pick-your-own operation, supervise kids and adults working for us, keep the store stocked and ready for our loyal local customers and the travelers stopping by. In addition, we do building and machinery maintenance and repair and all the summertime projects that we cannot do in cold weather.

Busy is an understatement. It is hectic, stressful and at times, overwhelming here at the farm. But it is also wonderful. The hummingbirds, the birds, the wild critters that can be seen in the fields and preparing to raid the crops are magnificent. The flowers and foliage is stunning. The skies are beautiful. The lakes and rivers and streams are lovely. The crops and rewards of summer are seemingly endless. The heat is delightful. Summer is good.

To add to the hectic and stressful nature of our farm summers, we are hosting a wedding in under three weeks. Our son and his fiancée plan to tie the proverbial knot here on the farm that is such a source of lifeblood and history for the family. We hosted our daughter’s wedding a mere three years ago, so are well aware of the work and planning and angst that go into such a huge endeavor. Her wedding was in May, so we were not as far into the growing season as this August fête. With our son working as a high school teacher, the window of opportunity for the wedding was an obvious choice for August before the new school year begins, but working our personal celebration into the work of the farm has been a challenge.

But it is well worth the challenge. This is a celebration to top all celebrations in the life of a couple, and we are beyond pleased to be able to host the big event. It is a symbol of two very different people making the commitment to become one small, committed and loving team, celebrating the good and loving aspects of life and offering a lifetime of hope. The challenges the couple will face will all be new and seem monumental, and we as a family of friends and supporters are here to celebrate that new team and offer our support to keep it strong.

Challenges are nothing new. It seems that the challenges pile atop each other with each successive day, both in work and in our collective personal lives. If you watch the news on television or read the daily reports online or in a newspaper, challenges and turmoil are afire all across the globe. We need a big global wedding to celebrate all that is good and loving and full of hope. I am weary of hearing of tweets and public attacks of words in our own nation and even more weary of hearing of riots and fights and horrors committed within our countries borders and around the planet.

I guess I just don’t understand humankind and why it is more important to us to tout our individual goals and thoughts than to sit at the table and compromise over issues as the newly married couple will need to do. It’s hard work to make a marriage work. It’s hard work to make a community or a town or city or state or nation or world full of people trying to agree over anything come to a civil agreement, too. But these are the things that seem to take the forefront. Why can’t we just celebrate all that is good and kind and spread a little love and cheer around the globe and in our own corners of it. I wish the couple and our world all the best. It’s summer. It’s time for a wedding. It’s time to celebrate all that is good and kind and loving in the world.