Excerpt No. 0014

Learn to Notice

When I was younger, I thought experience meant knowing more.

Now I think it means seeing more.

Those aren't the same thing.

The vineyard has taught me that most of life isn't hidden.

It's simply overlooked.

The first leaf to unfurl.

A change in the smell of the soil after a light rain.

The way birds disappear before a storm.

The sound a tractor makes when something isn't quite right.

The look on someone's face before they say they're struggling.

None of those things announce themselves.

They whisper.

The world is full of whispers.

Most people are waiting for something loud enough to demand their attention.

Nature rarely works that way.

The vineyard certainly doesn't.

It teaches in small moments.

The trick is slowing down enough to catch them.

I've noticed something over the years.

The best farmers aren't always the strongest.

Or the smartest.

Or the ones with the biggest tractors.

They're usually the ones who notice first.

They notice the vine that's a little behind.

The leaf that's just a little lighter.

The weather that feels just a little different.

The cattle standing where they don't normally stand.

By the time everyone else sees the problem...

The observant farmer has already been thinking about it for days.

I think that's true outside the vineyard, too.

The best parents notice when a child gets quiet.

The best husbands notice when their wives are carrying more than they say.

The best friends notice when a laugh doesn't sound real.

The best leaders notice what everyone else walks past.

Not because they have a special gift.

Because they've trained themselves to pay attention.

That's really what this Almanac is.

Not a collection of answers.

A collection of things worth noticing.

Some of them are about grapes.

Some are about weather.

Some are about family.

Some are about faith.

All of them began the same way.

I noticed something...

...and I didn't want to forget it.

If these pages help you become a better farmer, I'll be grateful.

If they help you become a better observer of the world around you...

I think the vineyard would smile.

Because that's what it's been trying to teach all along.

So before you rush to find the next answer...

Pause.

Look around.

Listen.

The lesson you're searching for may already be standing right in front of you.

Waiting to be noticed.

Filed Away

The world changes quietly.

The people who notice first are the ones who understand it best.

Keith Saarloos
Farmer
Saarloos & Sons