Welcome Back to Lotus Arts Farm Sanctuary’s Blog
As summer wanes and autumn is approaching we are gifted with the fullness of harvest time. Summer was full of rest, play, and offering. We are now approaching autumn, the season of abundance, gathering in the crops. This time of year, Pachmama, Mother Earth, gifts us with all the flavors, sweet and sour apples & pears, savory kale, collards, beans, basil; bitter radishes and salty celery, just to name a few. The quote that comes to mind is
When we appreciate and express gratitude for the abundance in our life our lives become more abundant
-Debasish Mridha
We are able to see all the bounty, when we pause and take the time to notice. “Thank you, thank you, Pachamama! (mother earth).”
I am also struck by the internal growth summer gives rise to. The different struggles each one of us are up against, that we have sat with, felt the pain of and come out the other side. This is sometimes harder to name or even notice, for we often are moving so quickly we don’t take time to notice and celebrate.
I would like to pause and give gratitude for both the external and internal abundance in my life. There are so many things I am grateful for; however, I would like to take just a few things and really presence them and share my gratitude. Let me start with Basil. Basil has been around for over 4,000 years and was thought to have magical powers. It was used as an antidote for snake bites, and believed to give strength during religious fasting. Holy basil (tulsi) has one of the most beautiful scents, known to be helpful as an aid in depression among many other benefits. Im going to speak about the culinary basil that I have in my garden. We grew basil, (type) in our garden and enough to make an abundance of pesto, making three different batches throughout the summer. I also want to give recognition to the pine nuts that are a huge component of Pesto. I have several pine trees behind and surrounding my house that I greet giving my appreciation too often. A Norway Spruce, and Hemlock. While these aren’t the specific pine trees most commonly used for harvesting of pine nuts, (Mexican piñon, Colorado pinion and Italian stone pine are most commonly harvested for their pine nuts) these pine trees in my backyard have sparked my connection with the pine nuts in my pesto, and the deep appreciation for every single one of the pine nuts, for I learned that there are only 2 pine nuts in every pinecone harvested for a bag of pine nuts. Wow, that really makes me stop and appreciate each batch of pesto I make.
I want to share one area I have grown internally, connected to the pesto. Having just moved to a new home, I was trying so hard to help my son get connected to the garden. “Lets make pesto I say, the basil is ready.” “No” my son says. “I don’t want to.” Many of you know the conversation. My growth was related to pausing and feeling the sadness of harvesting the basil by myself, and allowing my son to take the time he needed to feel his anger in the moment. When he did come down, I was preparing the two big bowls of basil to turn into pesto. He joined me, but added he wanted to make a mug on the pottery wheel we can bring into our backyard. I’m thinking, we really need to get the Pesto made and processed before it’s too hot out. Instead of making my priority happen I had enough pause to work it out with my son that both things could be possible, we ended up setting up the wheel in the back yard, getting it all ready to throw pots. We then had a marvelous time making pesto together. The pause and desire to really connect with my son was the harvest point for the change. It’s taking small steps to connect to our food that make our internal connection with the food we eat that much stronger. It’s taking the time to connect with my son that has made my relationship with my son stronger. My son is now making his own pasta and sourdough toast with yup pesto, lots of pesto.
A wild harvest made this summer was Chicken of the Woods in the Northern Woods of WI, on a trip I took with my mother this past Labor day week. She is in her mid 80’s. We journeyed to a cabin that we visited yearly, for a good portion of my mothers life and for many years of my life. Always foraging something while there, blackberries, raspberries, and lots of fishing. On our first walk we found a beautiful stand of Chicken of the Woods, a shelf mushroom. What a treat we stumbled upon. What a beautiful mushroom and so special for my mom and I to have walked together ¾ of a mile down the road to find it. My mom uses a walker and hadn’t been walking much. It felt like the universe was so happy we had come and offered us such abundance.
The internal harvest I feel both my Mom and I made that allowed us to share the connection with the Chicken of the Woods was the willingness to work out some of our dissonance. My Mom lives in GA, and I live in MA. We don’t see each other much at all. She is getting older and wanted to make a trip to WI, which would be quite the pilgrimage for her, and me. I had to feel the sadness that my mother hasn’t been in my children’s life as much as I would have liked. I also had to recognize that this was both of our doing, not just “my mothers fault” I now own my part in it. The internal harvest or growth point for me that allowed me to journey to my hometown and to Hazelhurst, WI with my mother was feeling the sadness when it came up. We had an incredible trip; lots of walks, delicious meals, swims, mushrooms, and deep healing.
Lo! A ripe sheaf of many golden days
September by Hilaire Belloc
Gleaned by the year in autumn’s harvest ways,
With here and there, blood-tinted as an ember,
Some crimson poppy of a late delight
Atoning in its splendor for the flight
This is September
Here’s to the bounty of the season and pausing to reflect on both the outer and internal harvest we have made. The gifts from mother earth, and shifts from within.