This time of year, when the haying is done and the bales are scattered across the fields waiting to be collected, always leaves me with a feeling of resolution. It's something that has a clear start and finish, whereas other aspects of farming seem never ending, which Andrea captured perfectly as she looked over a row of collards and quipped, "didn't I just weed this?" On Tuesday, after a dirty, wildfire smoke-filled day of work, I went to the river to cool off, and noticing how beautiful it was out there away from the dust and dry earth, I realized that it's almost Labor Day and we have not had one single picnic on the water. Summer is not a time of leisure on the farm, but we need to stop once in a while and appreciate why we bought this forest and river-cradled farm in the first place.