Saturday, September 12, 2009

A time to harvest


For everything there is a season,
a time for every activity under heaven....

A time to plant and a time to harvest

Most people my age know this section of Ecclesiastes 3 as a song from the 1960s. However, gardeners have known this Truth since Eden.

There is a reason I love prose and poetry about finding God in the garden... plant a seed and harvest the results in the form of green beans and red peppers and golden squash and purple eggplant.

What an amazing Creator we serve and I'm sorry to offend those who believe otherwise but... somehow I find it hard to believe God's creation came from a primordial ooze. I just want to hug He who created these veggies, and fruit trees, and golden wheat, and duck billed platypuses (platypae?). As it is I often send up little prayers of praise.

My friend who is giving us her half of a CSA (where one pays a farmer before the season begins and receives veggies from spring through autumn) called early this week and asked if I was willing to work her hours on Thursday. My friend, who spent DAYS helping me get ready for the move to Detroit, is moving to Europe next week... and her daughter is getting married today. Of course, I said yes!

Although the work was rather hard at first, it was fun helping people know what the freebies were (basil, apple mint, extra yellow peppers, and little really hot red peppers) and talking to like minded people who love fresh "from the farm" food.

I noticed when I picked up veggies before (when my friend was out of town) and this time how many families brought their children, showing them the different kinds of food and letting them pick their choices when the option was given.

The above are part of our CSA veggies. We also brought home a bag of mixed salad lettuce, butternut squash, and the most amazing celery I have ever seen. Part of my celery is going into soup. I dropped off the other half of our veggies to the woman from church whom my friend split the share with... her celery leaves are a gourmet food for her hamster. :)

These two pictures are from our garden. I'll plant the little purple eggplant again next spring just for how pretty they are.

A time for every purpose under Heaven... I think I'll go back and read the rest of Ecclesiastes 3. :)

Picture: Our garden on Friday

6 comments:

matty said...

What a delicious meal you must have enjoyed! One of my most favorite cross stitch pieces has: "He who plants a seed and waits to see believes in God." When one considers the remarkable gift in such a plain thing as a seed, any seed, the wonder of God is awesome! We are finishing digging our 'taters today. How I wish you were near enough to have some of the blues! They are blue all the way through! Talk about amazing mashed potatoes! Have a glorious day!

Thickethouse.wordpress said...

I'm not offended at all by your beliefs, but I'm always so surprised that people think that evolving from lower life forms means any less that God created us! To me it is more amazing,more wonderful, if anything, that he created us in what I believe are such, well, creative, ways. (I couldn't think of an alternative word!) My daughter who has a PhD in ecology says either evolution is real, or God faked the evidence so we would have to believe it. I agree with her.

And I hope so much that you are not offended, Brenda! I am probably really stupid to make this comment here. I don't fear a flame war from you because I think I know you well enough to know that is not your mode of dealing with anything, but all your readers may not be so calm and willing to listen to others viewpoints. However, I put a great store by authenticity. My only excuse must be the jet lag from returning from Germany late last night after a sixteen hour journey!

Brenda @ Its A Beautiful Life said...

Enjoyed your posting! Thanks for sharing you thoughts with us...... God obviously loved gardens too. I'm so glad He shared his love of beauty with us......not to mention all that harvest bounty.

Be fruitful and multiply.... I think zucchini's really took that to heart, don't you think?

Now you inspire me to go find that chapter and read it again myself.

Blessed day.

Packrat said...

Beautiful pictures - as always. I still need to catch up with the last 15 or 16 of your posts. Hope you are feeling better.

Nana Trish is Living the Dream said...

This is a beautiful post. God's beautiful vegetables. We are so blessed to have them to eat. Many people around the world have no access to such wonderful food. I think your garden looks so pretty. It must give you such a sense of accomplishment. I have never had a garden, but I think they are great. It's not a mystery why so many still life pictures are fruit and vegetables. Such timeless beauty.

Lisa Richards said...

Aren't vegetables beautiful? I never cease to be amazed at how colorful God made them. I'm going to try some of those little eggplants next year, too! I love them!

Your garden is so gorgeous!