"Comparison is the Thief of Joy."
~ Dwight Edwards , and maybe even President Theodore Roosevelt
The benefit of Google photos and Facebook memories, it that every day your reminded where you have been and how far you have come. To reminisce about this time last year or cringe at that awkward party picture your trying to forget.
I (usually) just use it to compare the growth of our farm –
We were cooler in October, last year.
We were able to plant earlier in the fall.
This time last year, it was pouring rain.
We had a lot more growth in our brassicas.
The aphids hadn’t arrived yet.
Same farm, Same month, Different year.
Some of these pictures are raw. Messy farm, muddy bits, bad lighting. They are the grade Bs and Cs. They are not just the overripe and ugly, they are the rotten. They were only ever meant to gather data.
Allowing for a seemingly logical comparison, to find the patterns in what can we control. Control the controllable, leave the rest to nature.
Others were carefully shot, with just the right morning or sunset light – perfectly cropped to hide the mess for the real world. The neighbors yard, the aphids, the weeds, the messy counter top. These are our Grade As, the carefully curated parts of the farm we show the world.
The ones we are compared against and the ones we compare ourselves to others with. Illogically thinking every other social media post that are similar to ours, have the “perfect” farm or business or life just outside the edges of the frame.
Yesterday, we spent the all day with the Garden Kitchen crew, touring, tasting, and planning our upcoming dinner. We saw the curated and the raw, and I was reminded the full frame, uncropped are actually what makes it all our truly perfect life - there is no comparison.