Too many vegetables
(not really)
Fall is right around the corner, which means the west coast is dry, dry, dry. Funny how I once ran from the yellow grasses of Southern California only to end up with them in Oregon (it rained twice this summer).
On the farm, though, abundance is in full swing thanks to the tight irrigation schedule. Melons, corn, onions, tomatoes, peppers, celery - pretty much all produce you can think of is popping off. It’s great to see months of work showing results but as expected with peak season, there’s no end to the todo list. Most of it I can handle, except maybe the green beens. They just take too damn long to pick!
With all the work going on, I’ve started daydreaming about the rest that will come once winter sets in. The cyclical nature of farming takes the pressure off planning my next break, with life naturally falling into step with the seasons - an astrologers dream. No matter how tired I get now, its worth remembering that this abundant stretch is exactly what we’ve been building toward since spring. And when the cold comes and the ground rests, so will I.
In many ways, my past office jobs were easier than farming. Working behind a screen left plenty of space for running midday errands or sneaking in an episode of Below Deck between meetings. Slacking off isn’t an option here on the farm - the vegetables won’t water and harvest themselves. And more often than not, I don’t mind having no choice but to stay present.
People like to say Gen Z shies away from hard work, but as someone who’s done a fair share of giving minimal effort, I don’t agree. What looks like laziness is really just a lack of meaningful incentive. From my time in the advertising industry, I know that chasing shareholder profit isn't much of a reason to give your all, and a raise that doesn't keep up with inflation doesn't exactly get the blood pumping either. Without something real to work towards, all that effort is just energy wasted.
Here on the farm, my work goes towards feeding nutrient-dense chemical-free food to the local community, either through markets or the many food donation centers we support. Knowing that makes the time and energy I put in worthwhile. The reward is clear and immediate. It makes me think that perhaps the real challenge for my generation isn't willingness to work, but the lack of work worth doing.
OFF THE LAND
The time has come to harvest my milk thistle. In my eagerness, I planted far too many of these terribly invasive plants, drawn in by their medicinal promise. And the benefits are great: milk thistle supports liver function, including anti-inflammation, detox and hormone regulation. What I didn’t account for is that the plant is a thistle and every part of it is armed with sharp spikes. After being stabbed countless times, I managed to collect a solid stash of seeds, which I’ll grind into powder that can be added to anything I eat or drink.
With the colder months approaching, I’ve been experimenting with preserving herbs for their immune-supporting benefits. I harvested and dried some rose hips from the rosa rugosa bushes growing along the farm’s perimeter. Rose hips have been used for centuries for their richness in vitamin C. To capture those nutrients, I’m making an oxymel - a blend of vinegar and honey - that will be my cough syrup through the winter.
I went into the forest looking for more sources of vitamin C and came back with Douglas fir and red cedar branches. The fir is safer to work with, so I dried some for tea, made a tincture, and infused an oil for help with skin inflammation. Cedar, on the other hand, has oils that can be a little intense and even harmful with prolonged use, so I kept it simple and bound the leaves into incense sticks. They smell amazing and will make a great substitute for cleansing, especially since I didn’t grow much sage this year.
IN THE STARS
We’re back in the Virgo/Pisces eclipse season and I can definitely feel it, much like this time last year. Hope everyone is getting a lighter pass, though Saturn back in Pisces has been making things feel heavier all around.
Eclipses bring about change, and the best we can do is put aside resistance and sail through whatever challenges arise at this time. As sister signs on opposite sides of the axis, Virgo and Pisces urge us to consider where we place our attention. In any endeavor, relationship, or difficulty, they point to what deserves our focus and which pieces of the puzzle truly matter.
Pisces leans towards pondering the big picture while Virgo dissects the details. Each approach has value, and yet neither can fully grasp the matter at hand without help from the other. Pisces energy urges us to trust the process and look to the spiritual meaning behind things, but without Virgo's grounding, that trust can slip into blind faith without real direction. On the flip side, Virgo thrives on gathering and organizing information, yet it can lose sight of the ultimate goal by getting tangled in overthinking instead of moving forward.
At their core, both Virgo and Pisces strive towards an ideal - Virgo through the practical and physical, Pisces through the spiritual and emotional. During this eclipse cycle, the pull is leaning towards Pisces, inviting us to dream of the perfect outcome somewhere on the horizon. The opportunity this September is to balance that vision with Virgo energy: digging into the details and mapping out practical steps that bring those dreams closer to reality, especially in areas of life those signs touch in individual charts.
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