How to Plant a Vineyard, Part 25: The Universe and You

Pablo Coelho says that when you really, really want something, the entire universe conspires to help you achieve it. I say that if the entire universe is against you, it doesn’t matter how much you want it, fig and poppy seed.

My daily rhythm last week. Wake up at 5:30 a.m., a poppy seed bun from AWITEKS at 6:00 a.m., and a great coffee at the Orlen gas station at 6:15 a.m. Then a ride to Sanka and a change to the tractor at 6:50 a.m. Entry to the vineyards: 7:10 a.m. Then a few hours of driving in through poles, lunch/dinner at the in-laws’, and the second part of the day’s work.

And now for what I was aiming for at the beginning: cultivating, or as the locals call it, hacking. I’ve done it three times now, and with complete success. It doesn’t matter. The cultivator compacts sand like haystacks, turning itself into one giant Sisyphean ball of earth until the tractor stalls despite its considerable power. I try everything, raising the knurls, then detaching a few, unscrewing the shaft, even twisting the three-point hitch arm (the handle to which the cultivator attaches), two hours of experiments leading nowhere. Finally, I give up. Not the day, not the time. Maybe this is a lesson? If fate doesn’t want it, don’t fight or you’ll fall. Nonsense, I think to myself, I’ll try again tomorrow.