Last night I was in the garden picking some squash, they had to be picked because you know how squash get when you leave them for a few minutes, and I saw a small sized cucumber. Well, I’ll pick it tomorrow I said as I left the garden. This afternoon when I went in to pick some young lettuce for a midday salad, the cucumber was still there, relatively small, but next to is was a giant cucumber! Well giant by my standards, I don’t usually get big cucumbers that are almost a foot long and as big as my wrist around. I can’t believe I missed that. Then it occurred to me that last night was July 31st and now we are in the season of Lughnasa or harvest. The Celtic Calendar sees August as the beginning of autumn! Oh my, didn’t we just have autumn? But it is harvest time, last week we had a zucchini, broccoli, pea, kale, swiss chard stir fry - this has to be the best garden that I’ve had since I’ve been gardening without my father!! The kale is so plentiful, the pole beans are longer than my hands, and there are a multitude of purple beans and the second crop of purple peas. What is going on out there?
One thing might be I’m very happy with my garden and keep telling it that it is beautiful, it’s doing a good job. Now in past years my garden has been small and not exactly what I wanted, so I had this garden opinion of lack. But this year, with more room, things can spread out and grow to their potential. Doesn’t that sound like what we want to do with our children, give them room, and let them grow to their potential.
This reminds me of a recent Matthew Fox book - The Order of the Sacred Earth. He says: “Creation Spirituality is earthy; it is the earth and on behalf of the earth and honors the earth as an ‘original blessing.’ It also honors our bodies along with other bodies - that of animals, birds, and fishes, and trees, plants, flowers, forests, water - as the sacred and precious entities that they are.”
So in this season of August (or Autumn if you want to call it that), we honor the gifts of the harvest, the fruit of the fields, all the bounty and beauty that surrounds us. And as we enjoy the abundance, we remember that what we harvest belongs to all of us, is a part of all of us, not to be hoarded, but to be shared and spread around because we are all woven together in a web of infinite love.
Fox reminds us that “ecological justice is essential for the sustainability of life on Earth.” Interfaith Power and Light has a movie called Come Hell or High Water about the conflict over land mostly owned by African Americans and the corporations that want to take it over. See this link for more information. Interfaith Power and Light Check it out. Enjoy the harvest as you see the awe and wonder of the sacred earth, and spread that joy to all.