Take time to appreciate your life

In the last few issues of the Farm and Dairy, the articles in the Dirt on Conservation have covered frost seeding to cover crop planning. We’ve read about vernal pools and the importance of trees, especially along streams, and a lot of other things in between.

Soil and Water Districts all across the country have celebrated Stewardship Week, Earth Day and Arbor Day, all in conjunction with the celebration of spring and the promise of new things to come.

We’ve had tree seedling sales, gotten our rental equipment ready, and processed bunches of soil tests for homeowners, gardeners and producers. On my own farm, it seems we’ve gone from feeding hay on frosty mornings to getting fields ready and thinking about cutting hay — all within a week or two.

But, as I get older, certain things take on new meanings. A couple weeks ago, the “conservation family” that consists of Soil and Water District employees all over the state, learned of the passing of the spouse of one of our own.

She was a young mother of three teenage daughters, with a loving husband and it touched the hearts of people in every county in Ohio. So, as I get older, I think things like, what if this was your last spring?

Thinking differently

Would you look at things differently? Would you pause just once to look at the things that happen every spring, that, you’re normally too busy to notice?

Would you stop and listen to spring peepers and toads and frogs calling in the vernal pool in the evening? Would you admire the way that the fruit trees come out in bloom and attract the bees for pollination?

Could you take a closer look at the soil and make plans to amend it to suit whatever it is that you’re growing? Could you take a few extra minutes to admire the calves or lambs in the pasture as they race around the hills?

There’s a country song from a couple years back about a friend who faced his prognosis, and actually embraced it, too. I’m not gonna ask any of you to go sky divin’, or Rocky mountain climbing, or ridin’ any bulls.

But, at least once in a while, take a minute and appreciate what surrounds us every day. The closer you look, the more you’ll appreciate.