We're coming up on a couple of cold days and even colder nights, so today was squash gathering as well as apple picking time. I took my trusty wheelbarrow, Henry, out to the garden to help me haul them back to the basement for storage. While I was there, I stood still for a few minutes just to watch and listen. A couple of cows had given birth to late calves and they were out by the fence line, two mamas and two babies. The calves were lying in the grass, ears twitching and surely as happy to be alive in this beautiful world as I. After greeting them from a respectful distance, I went to picking. There's something both gratifying and bittersweet about those last few days in the garden.
On the way back to the house, I stopped to get what was left of the apples, leaving a few smaller ones for the deer that still visit my little orchard almost every day, waiting, I suppose, for nature's largess. I couldn't resist helping out a bit, the last of them being too high to reach. I'm so grateful for their company. Many evenings, from the porch, Buddy greets them enthusiastically as they make their way across the edge of our land and into the meadow behind the house where their favorite resting place waits under the Norway pines.
After I got the squash and apples stored, I picked a few nasturtiums to go with the vegetables in the wrap I was fixing for lunch. I used to feel bad about eating them, they're so pretty, but I have two planters full and each time I pick them others quickly arrive to take their place. Now, I've stopped feeling bad and just eat them, filling myself with gratitude and pretty flowers. Life sure feels good as we head into autumn.
"I Want to Write Something So Simply"
I want to write something
so simply
about love
or about pain
that even
as you are reading
you feel it
and as you read
you keep feeling it
and though it be my story
it will be common,
though it be singular
it will be known to you
so that by the end
you will think--
no, you will realize--
that it was all the while
yourself arranging the words,
that it was all the time
words that you yourself,
out of your own heart
had been saying.
~ Mary Oliver, from Evidence
You have grown, arranged, and photographed a gorgeous still-life. Eating nasturtiums seems so decadent, in a healthy sort of way. And I love the poem. Mary Oliver is a wonder.
ReplyDeleteI admit to a little embellishment via the farmer's market. Maybe eggplants next year. I also have had to subsidize the kohlrabi after the Bunny Rabbit family came through. For a week or so it was like Sherman's March.
DeleteMary is my hero.
Your wheelbarrow has a wonderful name. I like to think, in casual moments, you might call him "Hank."
ReplyDeleteYes, well, the casual moments come so few and far between in this garden party atmosphere.
DeleteYou're not going to believe this. No, really. You're not going to believe this. But, a few days after I first bought this place, Henry introduced himself, and his name is Henry. The other one is Mr. Chalmers. And I resisted saying, "to you." He also introduced himself. They make fine companions. Henry even likes the same music I do.
I told you, you wouldn't believe me.... but, it's true. :)
Teresa -- your mixed emotions about your fall garden is part of the life of a gardener. For me the cool air and the fall sunlight along with with my body harvesting some late produce felt so good. Yet, I knew the garden had past its zenith and winter was soon to follow. -- barbara
ReplyDeleteI Love this time of year. Even those bittersweet feelings are to be embraced. It's all about Life. Thank you, Barbara.
DeleteI really must grow nasturtiums again some day, I remember we had them when I was in the seventh grade and they wandered about our front steps so nicely, only tasted them once but they look almost too pretty as you say, to eat. Are they an annual where you live? or do they reseed? There's much meaning in that poem.
ReplyDeleteThey are an annuals. I will replant again next year. The planters are very near the door and convenient. :)
DeleteIt's a poem that appears and sounds simple, but is rich with meaning. I'm glad you liked it.
"They are an annuals?" It sounds like I just arrived here.... :)
Deletei like to float the flowers on a soup also. I have heard of pickling the seed pods, to use like a caper.The squash sound real good.
ReplyDeleteI had not thought of soup. That's a great idea. Thanks, Steve!
DeleteI love the peppery taste of nasturtiums, and I so love this post. Mary Oliver said it all with such an economy of words. You painted a word picture that came alive as I read it. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Jan. I do love her "economy of words." Little said, often says more.
DeleteWhile you're nibbling on nasturtiums, we're plucking yucca blossoms for salads! It is such a delight to taste what our ancestors surely tasted as they made a new life in this land.
ReplyDeleteI'm longing for autumn - not a hint yet, although "they" said some of the cool air you've been enjoying up there is headed our way this week. I have my wind chimes out on the balcony now - I take them down in summer because our prevailing winds are SE and they never stir. But now, they'll serve as my first hint of a windshift, and sing their autumn song.
My dad had a chainsaw he called OC, because every time he decided he needed to get it out and use it, mom would say, "Oh, c***" and go look for her first aid kit. ;)
I've been meaning to get a book on edible wild plants. There's so much out there, but I'd want to be certain....And think of what the Native Americans ate before our ancestors arrived. :)
DeleteAll my regular tools and equipment have names. They deserve recognition for their service. None named OC, but I do have a push broom named Clem.
I once had a car named "Sherman." A 1965 Ford Galaxy 500. And it did cost $500. I loved that car and wish I still had it. Squash Mmmmmmm I love it. Spaghetti is my favorite followed by acorn and butternut squash.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a cool car. Did you still have that when you hit the Cooper to see "Magic," by any chance? :)
DeleteI'm baking my first one tonight. Yummy.
A beauty wrap redefined. Not a muddy facial. But a meal befitting Monet.
ReplyDeleteSharon, What a lovely, creative comment. Thank you so much!
DeleteDear Teresa, you never fail to touch the deep center of myself where Oneness dwells. Thank you. Peace.
ReplyDeleteThank You, Dee.
DeleteA wheelbarrow named Henry and a nasturtium wrap - the perfect prelude to the wonders of fall.
ReplyDeleteThey are nice symbols of this beautiful time of year.
DeleteLOL Teresa. I think I had graduated up to my 1974 Datsun 260Z when that film came out. I invited this beautiful gal from Venezuela named Beatrice to see that movie. We discussed the film for a few hours after. And then ---- and then, discussed other things.
ReplyDeleteSteven, Oh my, hot car. :)
DeleteThat "discussing" can get you into trouble. LOL
Well, you know what happened after that movie for my friend and me.... Ventriloquist dummies and I don't mix.
Did you and Beatrice get hitched?
DeleteNo. When I met her she was doing a 6 month product design internship at Tonka Toys. So I guess it was very short but very nice relationship. Who knows what might have been. Brains, beauty, personality, and a father in the oil business back in Venezuela. Oh Well.
DeleteAh, Tonka Toys in Minnetonka. :) She sounds quite lovely. Life has its little twists and turns....
DeleteMy Mum used to grow Nasturtiums in her garden when I was growing up, I adored their vibrancy I think they're such cheery-up flowers! I've never tasted them to my knowledge, back then I don't think we were aware they were edible.
ReplyDeleteI need to get a packet of seeds and get planting next Spring!
Thanks for cheering me up with your words and flowers today!
Hugs Jane xx
My neighbors introduced me to the fact that they're edible. Good news! I like food that looks pretty, too.
DeleteGood to hear from you, Jane!
Such a powerful ritual of gratitude and function to mark the seasonal transition...thank you for sharing it.
ReplyDeleteThank you for reading and responding!
DeleteThis writing is exactly why I return again and again to this site. Honest, insightful, and appreciative of the natural world. I really liked your sharing the bounty with the deer, something we have in common. Life is good for you Teresa.
ReplyDeleteBill, And I'm so glad you do. We've been sharing our stories for a while now and it adds much to my family here. It is very good. :)
DeleteOh, now I have to plant nasturtiums next year. I've just discovered pansies are edible - and I'm taking a wild edibles class next month. Looking forward to it.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing the beautiful poem.
And I will have to try pansies. My grandmother always grew them, but, like nasturtiums, they seem too pretty to eat. Oh, and candied violets too! And violets make a very good jelly. That class sounds great!
DeleteThanks for visiting, Cherie.