Lessons from Alaska's Abnormally Large Vegetables

Hendry: I went to an all-boys boarding school for high school. Everyone was not only from all over the States but also from all over the world. Following Junior year, it was typical to get a summer internship and my friend from California went to visit and intern with his aunt in Alaska. 

His Aunt is an avid fruit and vegetable farmer and competes in giant crop competitions. It’s interesting because Alaska, as you may know, is very cold and dark for much for the year, and therefore only has a yearly ~105 day growing season. By comparison, California has a 300+ day growing season.

And yet, despite the short timeframe, the farmers in Alaska have found ways to work with and even thrive despite the extreme, unfixable, unchangeable weather. 

In summer, Alaska has 19+ hours of sunlight per day, which allows them to not only grow fruit and vegetables, but grow massive-sized crops, much much larger than usual and in large quantities. 

And like that, even if a situation cannot be ‘fixed’ or changed, it is always workable. There is always a way forward, an option on what we do next, how we go on.

This reminded me of a story about the Dalai Lama. One day an older monk came to the Dalai Lama and asked to be taught certain yoga postures. The Dalai Lama refused, saying that these practices were for young men and were dangerous for an old man like him. After this encounter, the old monk went on to kill himself in hopes of reincarnating as a young man. 

When asked about how he has moved beyond the guilt, the pain, the discomfort of indirectly causing this man’s death, the Dalai Lama said “I didn’t. It’s still there. It’s with me every day. I just continue to live with my heart open”.

The Dalai Lama has even said that he uses it as a constant reminder of his aspiration to help uplift the lives of all beings. 

Even when everything sucks, when we can’t go back and change what we said, what we did,  the weather, the warmer climate, and on and on, there is always a way forward. 

The teachings remind us that working with these unfixable, uncomfortable situations bring out our best, most human, abilities They encourage us to be more vulnerable - kinder, more open, and fearlessly innovative. 

-written by Hendry + Allee, Photo via National Geographic