This was originally posted directly to Facebook as part of my 30/60 Challenge on Tuesday, August 1st. I’m posting it here now so that I can have everything all in one place.
Today is the Celtic/Pagan festival known as Lammas or Lughnasadh. It is the first harvest of the season, and a time to celebrate the abundance we’ve been given. So it was the perfect day to go pick huckleberries with my son.
A few weeks ago, my son had wanted to harvest some huckleberries, and he went about it by cutting a large branch off the bush. I wasn’t too impressed by this, but the huckleberry tarts we had were absolutely delicious! So we spent probably two hours in the woods, harvesting huckleberries. I enjoyed the opportunity to spend one on one with him, and share a more environmentally friendly way of collecting the fruits.
I was able to share with him my respect for the bushes, and my gratitude for the berries they shared with us. I made sure we left berries on each bush, so the birds and insects would still have some food. I even modeled respect for the spiders who were using the bushes as snares for their meals by speaking to them and avoiding their webs while I was picking. He started the journey quite nervous about the spiders, and was calm about them by the end of the trail.
As my bucket slowly filled, I started looking at the huckleberry bushes like the business world. There are tons of opportunities out there. There are more opportunities than any one person could ever take advantage of. Some are very sweet, and some are sour, and some are just plain rotten. And many are prime for the plucking. And no matter how many people have walked the same path, picking the juiciest opportunities from the bushes as they pass, there will still be some left for the next person. And no two people who walk that way will choose the same berry from the same bush, or even choose them in the same way.
Today I was on a mission to collect the berries for future use. Most of the berries I picked ended up in the bucket. My son, however, ate more berries than he put in the bucket. And while we each started out with the same purpose, we went about it in a different way, each getting different results. Was one of us more successful than the other? I have my own theory on that. I’d love to hear yours in the comments below!
Blessings,
Mary