Enjoying the Fruits ...

"Opportunities are usually disguised as hard work, so
most people don't recognize them." -- Ann Landers

The Internet allows me the tremendous opportunity to live
where I do, which as one visitor who saw my online snapshots
of the area commented, "... where you live is as close to
paradise as I think you'll find on this planet!"

Barring the occasional storm, I'd tend to agree.

At this time of year, the weather has cooled a little, the
first monsoon-like rains fell last week and the fruits of
this fertile valley's year-round production are being
harvested and enjoyed. Unlike much of the rest of this
sub-tropical island, we have a four-season climate here.

Earlier in the summer, I'd picked apples, peach-like durasno
and plums of various colours from the front *garden*.

Both black & white grapes are harvested from the rows of
vines in my backyard. Enough to make 200 litres of wine with
a few huge bunches left over for me to eat.

Fields of wheat, potatoes, maize, pumpkins and saffron are
cultivated around & about. Cabbages grow wild around field
perimeters and even 50% of the "weeds" that are collected
for goat-feed, are made up of fennel.

There are trees of avocados, lemons and oranges, as well as
date palms and almond groves. I have quince at both the back
and front of the house. We've already eaten kilos of fresh
figs, which also grow wild and abundantly.

For weeks now, I've been enjoying fresh blackberries daily,
collected from the hedgerows just yards from the house.

We have cacti everywhere too, with their profusion of
prickly pears. Yeah, imagine that, growing either feet from
or, intertwined with the blackberry brambles!

Before I moved up here, I lived on a banana plantation.

For a "city-girl" to arrive and literally, take my own
pickings, compared with the costly convenience to which I
was accustomed, was Harvest Festival and then some. Even Eve
couldn't have had such a field day in the Garden of Eden
and, it was very easy to get overly excited about it.

But it's not until you've lived amongst nature for several
years, as I now have and seen the rhythm and passing of
various seasons; the fates and follies of both nature and
human intervention, that one stops taking it all for granted
and begins to fully appreciate the true wonder.

It doesn't have to be like this, as was demonstrated by a
few rogue storms and excessive rains at all the wrong times
one year. None of the normally millions of figs ever got
enough sun to mature and ripen. Whole fields of potatoes
rotted or were simply ripped up by the high winds. The wheat
was lost entirely and the grape harvest shriveled to nothing
with bad case of mildew en masse.

Yet, the same effort and constant care; planting, tending,
pruning, ploughing, daily comings and goings had gone into
producing nothing, as went into another year's plenty.

There's little or no automation can be used on this
mountainous terrain. Tools are almost primitive. Add the
tending of a few goats for cheese and meat, a couple of
chickens in the backyard and the occasional rabbit stew and
this is what people have done here, for centuries.

They aren't daunted by the occasional failure. They simply
go about their daily tasks, focussed on their goals, guided
mostly by the seasons or the rising and setting of the sun.

They know it takes patience, persistence and not a little
hard work before they can enjoy the fruits.

Remember this applies to business too. Even online.

Former accountant & journalist, Pamela Heywood, has been
working online since 1997 and from her home for even longer.
She writes many articles and tutorials, which range from
inspirational to step-by-step tech stuff - explained in
plain language. To benefit from her experience, visit:
http://www.pamela-heywood.com

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