Harvest

Schuster's Farm, Dane County, Wisconsin  9/28/2018

 For everything there is a season,
    a time for every activity under heaven.
2 A time to be born and a time to die.    A time to plant and a time to harvest.   Ecclesiastes 3:1 - 2

Autumn is my favorite season.  I like the turn of cooler weather and the abundance of color amidst the lingering greens of summer.

The lack of color seen in faded stalks of corn becomes gold before turning a dry white.

Last weekend, we had a snow storm for a half-hour on an ordinary fall day.  It blew snow sideways, but it was a tease as the sun returned a few hours later.

The time to plant is spring while autumn is harvest time.  You can't do just one.  

Well, I suppose you could be Johnny Appleseed and just plant fruit trees all the time, but at some point even legendary Johnny had to pick apples to get new seeds for planting.

Pumpkin patch at Schuster's Farm
9/28/18 (dwm)

Years ago, on a ride along a state bike trail built on an abandoned railroad line I saw a tall apple tree.  I think it was born when a passenger finished his apple and tossed it overboard.

The apple decayed.  The seed was buried, died and germinated the following spring.   It kept growing and grows still.

Gardens are more linear than trees.  Farmers and gardeners alike plow through seed catalogs in the winter to find the right seeds.  They may plant them under grow lights in late winter, so they can be transplanted in spring.  If the weather is good, the plants flourish, until the fruit or vegetable is ripe and ready for harvest.

It is a circle of life.  We are planted too.  We grow, we live, and there is for us a time to die.

I guess that's why some folks don't care for autumn, because it reminds us of our mortality.

We don't need to dwell on it, but is a reminder of the short time we are here.  We should make the most of it; and prepare for the end of our season.  

Something to reflect on during harvest.