Maryhill Fruit Stand

After camping at the Maryhill State Park, we stopped in at a nearby fruit stand. In addition to the fruit, we were hoping they sold coffee, as the next coffee shop was 30 miles down our route. Jason, one of the workers there, realizing the gravity of the situation, very kindly offered to drive me over to the other side of the river to grab some coffee. Meanwhile, Ursa made friends with the owner of the fruit stand, Kimiko, who had a pollinator waystation connected to the fruit stand complete with wildflowers and milkweed! Kimiko is an artist — she said that in her art, she conceives the monarch butterfly as the “king of nothing.” I love that.

Upon their encouragement, we planted more milkweed seeds in the garden and played an original setting of a Han Shan poem called "Clear Welling Spring." Some of the lines in this poem inhabit the 'king of nothing' spirit of the monarch. i.e. "gaze into emptiness to the ends of the earth." Full text below:

Green water in the stream, in the pass,
White water risen from clear-welling spring,
Han Shan's moon's a flower, white as well,
White water risen from clear-welling spring,

So the darkest secret the spirit by itself illuminates,
Gaze into emptiness to the ends of the earth,

You're alone, with all within.

What a great connection at the Maryhill fruit stand!

-Ale and Ursa