Hey,

I remember so vividly coming home exhausted from a day at the farm. I opened my front door and heard the pitter-patter of tiny feet as my little daughter ran to greet her “Daddy!”

I dropped her off this August for her sophomore year at U Mich.

I was only 6, so at the end of the day packing peaches, the workers elected me to climb under the packing line and flick the dropped smooshy peaches out at clean up.

Soon I was stacking boxes, then running the forklift, off to college, now managing over 75 team members each season.

My wife, the lovely Miss Janine, and I shared a hug before show choir practice one fateful day in late 1993, then married, two children, built a home,

Suddenly she’s celebrating a ‘milestone’ birthday she looks like she’s barely halfway to.

I took my lovely bride out to dinner after one of our high school senior son’s senior cross-country meets, and as we reconnected over a shared meal, we noted that – Life happens before you know it.

• Last year was a whirlwind of Zoom meetings, drive-thru festivals, and crazy sanitation cycles.
• One day you’re visiting parents at their family home. The next its seems you’re visiting them in a retirement community.
• On the farm, we work day in and day out, so busy! Then suddenly, peaches are on the way out, and apple season sneaks up on you. You’re freezing blueberries one day and unloading pumpkins the next!

Life happens before you know it.

This week, we open the pumpkin patch for a ‘preview’; for all of YOU to get the very best of the harvest before the rest find out on the radio!

We had opened the apple orchards for Fuji, Jonathan, Mac, Empire, and Smoothee, BUT NOW, Dad’s been scouting, and we have Red Chief, Jonagold, and Stayman ready too!

This heat is making things ready, making them happen before we know it.

So, the only response is to plan your fall adventures EARLY!

• The pumpkins are ready.
• The apples are ripe.
• The cider is flowing.
• The wine is bottled.
• Now is the time.

The only two things I’ve found to slow this hurried passage of time are being present and expressing gratitude.

By being present, I mean put your phone down when your spouse is talking. Surrender your to-do lists and email when you watch your kid’s game. Take lunch. Text your daughter. Say to yourself a dozen times a day, “You can only do one thing at a time.”

Expressing gratitude is extraordinarily relevant to this day in which we live. Bombarded by bad news from every device and screen, I find the only remedy is gratitude.

Sometimes I’m grateful to simply be still moving or to have a job to do. Sometimes I’m thankful to have 3 mins before a meeting in which I have no job to do. I speak my gratitude specifically and out loud as I go through my day. I work to say ‘thank you’ much more often than I used to, as Fun Park Manager Jenny is such a good role model on that one.

Each time I share gratitude with God, another team member, or speak it out loud to myself like a crazy person, my hurried life slows down, just a little.

Life will happen before you know it, and the only chance to slow life is to be present with your favorite people and gratuitously share your gratitude with yourself and with the world.

See you soon on the farm,

Farmer Hugh