Not every decision can be made on instinct

We’re a few days into being away from the farm right now, and even with the distance, I’m still thinking about the blackberries and basil, but maybe with a different twist.

Before we left, I started pruning them, and it was a harder call than the basil. Blackberries alone, depending on the variety, want different things done to them at different times, and that’s before you even get into raspberries or blueberries or anything else in the patch. There’s no one moment where you just know what to cut; you have to actually get in there, cane by cane, and look. Is this one still got fruit coming, or is it just taking up space and sunlight from the one next to it that does? The basil was easier. I pruned it back right before we walked out the door, before it could flower, and I didn’t have to think twice.

That’s the difference that’s stuck with me out here. It’s slower. It asks more of you. It’s the kind of work I’d rather rush through.

I think that’s true of most of the cutting back we have to do in life, not just the garden kind. Some decisions are like the basil. You know it the second you see it, and the hardest part is just having the nerve to act. But most of the real ones are like the berries. They don’t announce themselves. You have to slow down, look closer than feels comfortable, and actually tell the difference between what’s still producing and what you’ve just gotten used to keeping around.

That’s the part of designing a flourishing life nobody puts on the pretty version of it. It’s not one bold decision. It’s a lot of slow, close looking, season after season, deciding what still belongs.

So this week, that’s what we’re doing. Looking closer before we decide what stays. I hope you’ll do a little of that too, whatever it looks like in your own patch.

Jules & Lane

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This letter first went out to our readers in the Country Living Connoisseur on July 30, 2026. The full issue has the garden and farm kitchen sections too. Want the next one? Pull up a chair and join us here.