Today for working meditation, we were tasked to harvest cherry tomatoes at Happy Farm, the organic farm that is a bold experiment by the Plum Village monastery and an astoundingly successful one so far. Harvesting tomatoes is the best part of working meditation on the farm, really. More pleasant than weeding and the other dirty, sweaty work we sometimes have to do. It feels like I’m walking down the supermarket aisle picking up food, except that this is the real deal. The original ‘supermarket’ created by Nature. 

Walking down the aisle, picking the ones that are ripe, tasting one from time to time, having small talk and small laughs, being close to the earth and all it produces……was such a heart-fulfilling experience. Life in this mindful living community is at times slow and sedentary, so it’s nice to move about and work with our hands and all of our body. We easily picked enough to feed a few families for days. And after all the work, we stopped by the plum tree for some refreshment. “Mother Earth gives back so much from what little effort we put in!” I exclaimed. And as if on cue, a ripe plum fell to the ground next to us. 

The giving tree, indeed. It couldn’t be more apt and timely.