I’m going to call this little blurb “The Parable of the Apple Tree.” (Hopefully I can do this without “spilling tea” too much).
I recently overheard a bit of a conversation about an apple tree. Joe was talking about going away for the a few days, but was worried about harvesting and processing apples from his apple tree. Like me, Joe is is a hobby gardener. As a hobby gardener, he doesn’t have to rely on the harvest for his livelihood or to feed his family.
I garden because I truly enjoy the process. I don’t need to do it. I like growing fun varieties of fruits and veggies that I can’t necessarily get at the store. If my garden doesn’t do well (like last summer), I get upset. But it isn’t something that will make my family go hungry if something goes wrong.
I told my wife after hearing the conversation that if my garden ever turns into a chore or a burden that makes me plan my life around it, I’m going to quit doing it. It just isn’t worth it. It would turn something that I truly enjoy into a job.