Doing What You Love

I love growing food, maybe more than anything. It's simply thrilling to throw together a meal from my own backyard. I never tire of it. 

Beefsteak tomato

The digging, the planting, the tending, the harvest.  I enjoy every aspect of the process. It's perfectly elemental.

Strawberries grown from runners

I've been reading Richard Templar's book, "The Rules of Life" lately. His sixth rule is, "Dedicate your life to something." Templar notes that this rule is a quiet thing, not something you announce to the world. It's a personal mission statement in your heart. A way to measure how you are doing.

I realize, I'm doing just fine. I do what I love, not what others think I should love and frankly, I always have. What I love has changed over the years, however. So I'm always in a place of rediscovery.

Home grown grapes ripening in a pot in my yard.

Embarking on regular personal sabbaticals has helped. There have been some who opposed this route. Merely because a sabbatical means one is diverging from the acceptable current. You enter the land of personal discovery. It threatens others' equilibrium. Shouldn't you be building on your resume? How dare you not fill every day, month, year with quantifiable achievements. 

I pay no heed. I've never let others bully me into a direction that makes them more comfortable. I am the one living my life after all, not them. 

Simply, do what you love, are words I live by. And when I stop loving something, I stop doing it.

Two of the 50!! tomato volunteers in my garden.
Oh yeah, tomato seeds ended up in the compost bin.