7.6.15 The heart of the town

     The farmers, women and men, ride out of the mist on a wide array of tractors, always smile and wave, and look kindly on the pup, as we pass each other in the early morning hours.

     The commuters leave their homes later, struggling with coffee cups and briefcases, glancing at smartphones, racing off in their cars, in such a hurry.

The to-do lists of the farmers must be in their heads. I never see them with a phone. Always just looking about, driving slowly and purposefully, through the small town.          

     As you walk down the sidewalks that line each green, it takes you awhile to get that almost half the homes are working farms, with their land behind them.

     Take a better look, and there behind the homes are the barns and outbuildings, the workers in the fields, or gathered around a tall table outside, come rain or sun, preparing the produce someone else has been out, even earlier, in a field, gathering.       

     Hours later, on nearby Rt. 9, the traffic begins to pick up and stutter, as vehicles clog the four-lane road that snakes from Amherst to Northampton.

      But all along the way, hidden behind convenience stores and shops , lies the heart of the town, the produce and livelihood bustling, the lives teeming along.