It is somewhere in the middle of the day. I ask my wife what time it is. She does not know. I ask her what date it is. She does not know. I ask her what day it is. “I am not sure.. is it Monday? or Wednesday? or perhaps Friday?”. She responds. We both laugh at our absence of time.

When my family from the city visited the farm they said: “Time moves so slow here”. I suppose it can feel like that, especially when one is constantly subjected to the rush and fast pace of the city. In the city, time must always be known and kept at all times to the point of depressing anxiety. Or else one might miss a train or bus; be late for an appointment; get a scolding from a boss or a teacher; forget your friend’s party, or maybe miss your favorite tv show at 8 pm.

And yet for some strange reason me and my wife do not feel that time is slow on the farm, it is rather fast. The days, weeks, months, and even years fly by. One moment you close your eyes and when you open them you realize 3 weeks have already passed by without any notice. I suppose this kind of feeling can only be experienced living for such a long time on a remote farm as ours.
It is not that we do not have any perception of time passing, but I guess it is the perception of a different scale.

I notice that tree now has an extra branch since last month. And the other tree is a bit taller compared to last year. The okra is now taller than myself, compared to “last time” when it was just a tiny sprout smaller than my finger. The fruits of the eggplants are fattening up with a glossy skin ready for picking, compared to “last time” when it was just a flower with a bee inside.
Perhaps this is the kind of time perception of trees… They may live as long as 300 years and grow slowly, barely noticeable by the human eye. We may think the time perception of trees is slow, boring, and dull. But it may as well be the opposite… A perception so fast that a mere 100 years pass by in what is perceived as a few seconds.

Altho the rhythm of life on the farm is usually slow-paced, there are times when we are rushing to finish our tasks, especially with the change of seasons as well as during planting and harvesting times.

The sun will rise and set. The clouds pass by. The birds chirp and fly about. Dreaming my life away…