Hoeing makes the world go round

It's just me and the broccoli. Well actually, it's me + broccoli + hot hot sun + soil + my hoe + my blister from the hoe....And probably a few other things I forgot to mention, but at that specific moment it really felt like it was just me and the broccoli. I even talked to it, sang to it, thought out loud to it. But after letting out a few Beatles songs I kept quiet, listening to the birds and going back to being perfectly content, completely alone in the middle of the field.

Sitting out there in the calm I thought mostly about my newest friend, Mickey, or Mickeydonas as they like to call him.

It seems every week I spend here I discover something new, something interesting, something inspiring. Today I found Mickey.

Mickey is a quiet character, I had already seen him around a lot but the most we had ever talked was only a few hellos and some practical conversations about lamb fencing. It's amazing what hoeing can do for people. I've discovered it can bring you together. Squatting down, dripping tiny droplets of sweat onto the same dry earth together we shared stories:

He's from Sonora, I was born in Switzerland. He has 4 kids, I have none. His license is from Arizona, mine's from California. His wife lives in Mexico, she has my same name. She once came to California with him but their daughter got sick from sadness so she had to go back. They walked the desert for 4 days to get here, they found two dead bodies along the way. After that, his wife said she'd never do it again. He's going to go back as soon as he can.