A time for everything

We moved to Orland in June of 2004. It has now been close to 3 months since that time and I am not yet completely familiar with my new surroundings, but I am learning to see beyond the superficial.

We live in a large house on a busy road; busy as defined by Orland standards. Since the house is so large, we don’t hear much of the outside noise and so the house is comforting in its silence. From our vantage point in the kitchen, where we can usually be found, we see our small backyard, a pool and a fence surrounding it all. Over the fence we can see the tops of all the trees in our orchard and beyond that, more trees. The view is all shades of green and a blue sky, with an occasional white cloud streaking the horizon.

The fence reminds me of the palisades that might surround a fort in the wilderness and I sometimes spot movement through the gaps in the boards. What was that? Someone sneaking up on our fort? No, it was just a bird.

If we go out to the front of the house, our view now includes the distant mountains that make up the Mendocino National Forest. Closer, a 20 acre parcel is directly across the road from us and there are cattle grazing on it, usually no more than 20 or 30 of them. We can hear the cows calling to their calves. To the north of us, an old farmhouse and barn sits vacant, the owners now live down the road a ways, but they keep the lawn mowed. A herd of small horses graze on the land. To the south, our view is of our neighbors land with a coral colored hedge of trees in full bloom.

I should point out that we have lived in lots of places in California; from San Diego (where I was in “boot camp”) to Janesville, in the far Northeast corner of California. We grew up in Los Angeles and Manhattan Beach, we moved to the San Fernando Valley and then to Ventura County. We spent a short time in Orange County before leaving Southern California forever in 1977. After leaving Lassen County, we spent 16 years in Roseville.

I guess we know a lot about a little bit of this state and now we are learning some more. And what I enjoy here in Orland is the pace of life. Not because it’s slower or less frantic than that of the Roseville area, but because the pace reflects the lives of the farmers. Agriculture dominates every life here. The growing and harvesting seasons determine what we do every day. God’s handiwork is evident everywhere!

And I can’t help but wonder what a young, urban, professional person from Roseville would think of this life?

I wrote of the busy road out in front and I see harvesters and tractors, trucks hauling almonds and trucks hauling hay. Each day, as the season progresses, the traffic changes to reflect what is being grown and harvested. I anticipate that the road will become quieter and the traffic will ease as fall arrives and the last of the crops are shipped away before winter arrives.

I like it here.