I have been invited recently to come pick blueberries on a fellow’s farm in south Georgia; he planted several hundred blueberry bushes several years ago, intending to create a retirement business for himself. For whatever reason, he instead invites folks to come help themselves to his blueberries for free.
My own history with harvesting food from the land is long and varied; we had a vegetable garden as I was growing up, one of the things my mother did very well. Later, I would become interested in gardening organically and growing from the land as a means to be self reliant. It was something I realized I loved, as each year the garden would get bigger and I would enthusiastically can and freeze food to winter us over. At our Asheville place, we had an organic mini-farm that included vegetables, herbs, fruit orchard, and blueberries.
I have not gardened for some years due to the moving about we’ve done in our spiritual journey (www.berrytrip.us). I tried gardening in Colorado, and did great with the cold weather stuff, but found the lack of heat in the summer to be uninspiring, as did my tomato plants.
There is something so delightful to me about accepting food directly from the land. It feels like an offering, a bestowing of blessings, to have the warm, heavy ripeness of a tomato fall into your hand, or feel the vibrancy of a yellow squash fresh off the vine. Picking peaches, plums or apples from the tall trees was like stealing candy from a baby…free food falling out of the sky! What a gift nature gives us in this simple pleasure.
I was reminded of my joy in this uncomplicated interchange when I accepted the invitation and met our friends out in the wilds of the blueberry fields. Row upon row of tall bushes, groaning with blueberries greeted me. My inner kid got so excited…Where to start?
I was moved spontaneously to reach up and touch the first bush I came to, and to thank it. Tears sprang to my eyes as I accepted the berry that came easily into my fingers, yielding to the slightest touch. It was ripe. Ah, life is good.
It was that day that I was shown yet another lesson from nature, this time from the blueberries.
Nature is a perfect teacher, if we will but pay attention. Nature is in perfect balance, self corrects when something is changed in the system, is neutral in its politics, and gives us so much support that we take for granted. I fell in love with nature as my teacher very young; it was safe, honest, and direct. I’ve been grateful to be reminded over my life of this precious guide and resource.
On this day, the blueberries reminded me of a concept I have been taught over and over, but perhaps haven’t fully integrated: “Go Where the Love Is.”
As I picked through the hot, humid morning, I noticed that some of the blueberries in a cluster would come off easily into my hands, while others were more resistant to let go. The riper the blueberry, the easier it releases from the stem. It is Nature’s way of protecting a species from dying out…the ripe fruit (or vegetable) will come away from its Source as if agreeing to go with us, whereas the fruit that isn’t done coming to optimal fruition will cling to its Source, like a child holding to it’s mama in preschool. “Noooooo! I’m not ready yet!” Brilliant. Nature’s built-in boundaries.
And yet, we can ignore this gentle limit-setting. We can pick the fruit before it is ripe, we can make a baby be born before it is optimal, we can force our way into a community and expect to be welcomed. We force the unripe fruit, and Nature has one less blueberry to bring to its fullest expression (and we eat unripe fruit and get a tummy ache).
As I watched this phenomenon over the morning, it translated into pictures of times in my own life when I have tried to force a situation to work when it just wasn’t meant to be. We are free will beings, after all…we can ignore the good advice and example that nature provides us and free-will ourselves right into a big mess. If we aren’t paying attention to those subtle signals that something is not ripe for us, we can put ourselves in situations that are challenging, even unnecessarily toxic or hurtful.
As I reflected on times in my life when I have picked the unripe blueberry, whether to try to make a situation work, or to “heal” someone that didn’t want to be healed, or to be friends with someone that was not a good fit, I realized that these situations were all very like wanting to be loved when love is not in the room. Then came words to translate the experience so that my mind could integrate what my body already knew. Go where the love is.
Once again Nature shows me, gently and without pomp or circumstance, how to live life in alignment and balance. How to move with ease and grace in this world. Nature as the model, Nature as my ideal, patient way-shower.
Pick the ripe berry, the one that falls easily into your hand. If there is resistance, pause. Don’t go further with that until there is a sign of ripening. Things that are not good for you will be harder to interface with, like the unripe berries will resist being plucked. If it is harder to pull into your grasp, leave it…. and go to the ripe berry. Go where the love is.
