Introduction

Hi! I’m Briarch and this is the first post of my new #blog. I am a father of a young family #homesteading in the southeastern United States. You can read more about my mission here though I am new to Steem (and social media in general) and am learning this tag thing so am also using this entry to #introduceyourself.

Summer here is a like a heavy stone you can’t get off your chest. You can’t breath easily, you can’t work for but moments, with the constant heat and humidity bearing down on you. So I haven’t done much in the last couple weeks, which is a nice opportunity do some preparing for next year and #writing.

Saving seeds

We grow Kentucky Wonder beans. I trellis them by hanging a piece of fencing or welded wire on two t-posts which I have found is more effective and easier than other trellis systems.

I harvested the pole beans that we will use to plant the garden next year. I let the fruit of the hardiest plant dry on the vine. These are the plants that have survived the poor watering I gave them when I was busy with a newborn and regrew when the old doe finally learned how to jump between the cables to get in the bean patch. I choose the most resilient beans to select the seeds for next year. If the pods are dried on the vine, you can simply peel the husk to get the seeds. I put these on a plate for a few dates and then in an airtight bag in the refrigerator until next year.

If the seeds are still green, just hang up the whole pod inside for a week or two and the husks will dry.

The harvest is always uncertain

As I prepare these seeds, I consider that I don’t know where my life will be when I plant these seeds. I know I’ll be in the garden in March 2020 planting, my children a little older and doing a little more of the work. But I don’t know where my work will take me. I am at a crossroads in my career and am facing two choices. I know the right choice: it leads to more freedom for me, more financial security for my family, and the ability to help more people. But this choice will hurt colleagues and mentors who would benefit from me taking the other path. And the right path is also a more humble path, which stings my pride. I need to remember the words by Kahlil Gibran on why we wake up every day and rise to the challenge of parenthood:

You are the bows from which your children
as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,
and He bends you with His might
that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies,
so He loves also the bow that is stable.

"On Children," Kahlil Gibran

I know the target, I know the right choice. What can I do but aim and let the arrow fly?