The Farmer and the Biologist!

Minds are like parachutes.

They only function if they are open.

            Thomas Robert Dewar

I watch as a bagel baker shakes a stick at an agitated woman, I remind myself this is not my world and my instinct tells me to not intervene, instinct is all I have and I have always relied on it. I order a bagel from him even though this makes me sad and a little nervous. The very nice workers take the time to explain to me that she takes all of their samples every day and they have to scare her off, I think about the poor woman who must be hungry, yet the hardworking people behind the counter trying to make a buck in this economy, I have no answer for this. I wonder if this woman lives on the street, and think of my refrigerator full of food back home on the farm. I watch this same woman eat samples of salami from the meat counter, she is wearing a nice jacket and jeans but her shoes are tattered and worn. The city has always confused me as far as appearances go.

I take my warm cream cheese covered bagel and walk over to the tables and chairs crowded together in between two food stalls, it has been a long trip and I can feel the weight of the heavy back pack starting to slow me down. Before I grab a seat, I order a coffee from the bakery and quickly grab one of the two only empty seats; I set the bagel and coffee down and finally unhook that back pack and set it on the floor. I sit facing the meat counter full of cuts of beef, chicken, and pork and enjoy this lunch thinking I wish I could have had a better view but loving the hum of the St Lawrence Market in downtown Toronto. Far from home, I can see where the food produced by hardworking farmers from everywhere makes the people of this city happy.

Sitting here with that delicious bagel now gone and relaxing and enjoying that much-needed coffee after a very long trip an older woman sets down her bag on the seat beside me, I watch as she turns and orders a coffee from the bakery not worrying about if I would run away with her bag, she sits down beside me. We smile at each other, and say “Hello” at the same time, we giggle and that is when the conversation began, simple as that. I drink my coffee while she enjoys hers as if we were old friends at the kitchen table back on the farm and not surrounded by the noise of this market full of people rushing by, a baby crying, people laughing and the rumble of heavy food carts rolling across the floor.

It turns out (I shall call her) Mary is a Biologist, I must admit on hearing that, I was a little intimidated thinking about what we could possibly have in common, my being a farmer just hopping off the train from the farm this morning, and her a well-educated woman living in the largest city in Canada, I was pleasantly surprised. Out of the corner of my eye I watch the bagel stealing hungry woman walk by with cheese samples in her hand, her eyes darting back and forth. I answer Mary’s question, I am a farmer, and that is when I started getting more from this conversation than I could have ever imagined. 

We fit perfectly together, two people seemingly from completely different worlds with a common interest and love of our lives. I love when this happens, and it seems to happen more often than not, at least in my world.

Mary was a fascinating woman with a beautiful accent and wonderful stories; she has lived and worked in places I had only dreamed of seeing someday. A well-travelled woman, who was very good at her job and lived life to its max, I asked her where she loved living and working the most out of everywhere she had been and she replied “Taiwan” I was fascinated on hearing this since she had lived in so many places like Italy, USA, Quebec and now lives and loves Toronto.

We started talking about cows, manure, and natural farming practices. I smiled thinking that I was sitting and talking about manure in a food market in the largest city in Canada staring at a meat counter filled with cuts of beef, pork and chicken with a world travelled Biologist and enjoying every moment of this conversation. There was talk about growing garlic, riding mules rather than driving a car in Italy, and growing up in the Riviera which sounded so wonderful to me. There was talk of beef farming and the world of farming now and of course how good natural manure was for sustainable farming versus chemicals. We laughed and shared stories of our youth, our hopes and dreams for the future, and those everyday bits and pieces of our lives with not one thought to the differences between us.

This wonderful encounter only proved to me that which I have always believed to be true; most people regardless of who they are, where they come from or where they are going always have some common ground, the secret has always been to be open enough to receive the information and believe in this fact.

Mary and I talked for almost an hour while the busy people with heavy carts, crying and laughing kids whizzed by with their shopping bags full of produce from all over the world not even noticing this farm girl and this Biologist sitting enjoying a coffee and conversation about manure in the heart of their city.

 I cannot help but wonder if I had not been open enough to listen to this wonderful woman’s conversation after hearing what Mary did for a living and had given into those feelings of intimidation at my lack of a Ph.D, how much I would have missed. This wonderful woman and her story will stay with me forever.

Mary and I, our coffee cups now empty and on realizing how much time we had sat there lost in conversation knew our time to part was now upon us. I gave Mary my Blog address and she gave me her card. I told Mary that I was writing stories about fascinating people I meet on this trip and her being the very first Biologist I ever had a conversation with she was certainly one of those fascinating people. We hugged goodbye I threw that heavy back pack up over my shoulder as I watched Mary make her way through the crowd. Oh, I love my life.

Later