MCFB March 2024 President’s Message
I’m sitting at my kitchen table as I type this message and it’s kind of a gloomy day. March is the time of year that I can feel and smell the promise of Spring. My pistachio orchard still looks dormant, except for the weeds. I know the trees will start to push out buds and foliage soon, but for now, everything is just gloomy looking.
Then I turn around and look out of my front windows. The almond orchard across the street is in full bloom with green leaves starting to come in and I feel concern for that farmer. He has to worry about severe weather. I don’t, yet…
In trying to come up with a topic to write about for this month’s message, I reflected back on the last few weeks. It’s been quite a rollercoaster. My husband’s job and hobby is race cars. Since November of last year, he has been busy building and fixing cars. The new race season started in January and really kicked into high gear in the last couple of weeks. Being his main track support person, I put some miles on my own “race” car and met him at a track in Buttonwillow, CA. I got to see him take first place in one of the classes he races on a national level. Then I raced to Monterey to the American Pistachio Growers annual conference. Then I raced home in time to jump into the truck with Ryan to go to the next race in Arizona where he took home two 2nd place finishes and a 1st.
People often ask how I manage everything. The answer is easy. Help. Lots of help. While racing down the freeway to different destinations, I make phone calls to Will Cosyns, my PCA and Helena rep to discuss what my orchard needs. He writes the recommendations and sends them to Kyle Prosperi, who then sends me a text to let me know when he will be in the orchard to spray those pesky weeds. Having those tasks handled by those guys frees me up to organize and prep food for the race weekends (we have a 40’ goose neck car hauler with a kitchen and bedroom that we live in while at the tracks). I schedule meetings and appointments while going 75mph (ok, probably a little faster) with the help of steering assist to keep me in my lane, cruise control assist to keep me a safe distance from the car in front of me and voice activated phone commands so that I (mostly) keep my eyes on the road.
I try to schedule my life so that I can live in the present. Sometimes God seems to laugh and throw me a curve ball, just to remind me that I can only control so much. I can’t control when God takes a loved one home, when Mother Nature decides we need extreme weather (a tornado in Madera, really?!), or when a migraine will strike and take me out for a day. So, I plan contingencies. An extra day to travel, layers of clothes, and meds to manage the migraine.
I love the boring and mundane of my life just as much as I love the excitement. Being able to sit in the quiet of a gloomy March morning with an extra cup of coffee is just as important to me as being able to prep, plan and zoom my way through the week. So, as I start thinking about what my next task will be today, I’ll end this month’s message with this:
I hope you all find moments of boring each day to sit quietly and rest.
