Harvest time..

I’ve been gardening all summer and yesterday, I celebrated Mabon by making and canning pasta and apple sauces. We’ve been drying apples and pears, as well as freezing corn, carrots, green beans, and zucchini for winter. I bought a new freezer that’s larger so I have more room now. We’re also freezing apples for pies and smoothies, so we’ll have both freezers in operation soon. I’ve been drying culinary, medicinal and magickal herbs from my herb garden. We’ll begin harvesting potatoes soon, and I’m letting the cantaloupe and watermelon ripen in the greenhouse. I’ve picked an amazing amount of Thai and Cayenne pepper that took over half of one of my greenhouses. I put mesh covers around the sunflowers to catch the seed as it falls before the birds get them. I went to the fabric store where I sacrificed my dignity by fainting when buying mesh fabric to do this. Eventually I figured out that I could have just used plastic grocery sacks, but that was after I came to, so to speak. Actually it was after I saw some of the mesh covers on the ground after a wind storm.

I swear, every paramedic in town responded at the fabric store by the time I was already up and back at the cutting counter getting my mesh cut. You see, you have to take a number to get up to the counter and I already was up there when I felt faint. I sat down, then the woman measuring out my mesh helped me back to the restroom, and before we got there, down I went. When I came to, there was this delightful little girl dressed as a fairy hovering above me. Seriously..she was there with her mom shopping, and isn’t it awesome she has a mom who lets her express herself! My shopping cart was still up at the counter, so I saw no reason not to pick up where I left off.

Anyway, multi-tasker that I am, I was more than happy to let that nice paramedic take my vitals in the checkout line. There were a dozen people or so ahead of me, and I really needed to get home. But he suggested that we do that in an aisle, so we did. My vitals were normal. I was fine. I guess my blood sugar tanked, but you wouldn’t know it from my blood sugar level. It was normal too. So, I’m chalking it up to ascension symptoms. As the frequency adjusts on Blessed Gaia, we’ll all be experiencing physical symptoms. Or it was a hot flash run amok. Either way, most of my sunflowers are still covered. I might actually get some seed this year.

The other thing we did was to put up fence to keep out the deer. We have a little left to do, but it seems to be working. It’s been traumatic for everyone concerned. But we’ll adjust and so will they. We have to spend time picking up apples and pears on the ground before they rot and the wasps do their thing, but I keep telling myself it will be worth it when I can plant flowers wherever I please. With the wind we have here on the high desert, we pick up at least a wheelbarrow full every day. What we can’t salvage, is buried in the compost pile.

When my boys were little, we had massive gardens. Then the rock chucks and deer moved in, and it all got to be too much. In a way, we’ve come full circle, back to at least some level of self-sufficiency. We’ve been gathering as much seed as we can for planting next year and we’ll be putting in a root cellar for additional storage. With any luck, the dome covered underground greenhouse will be ready for next year and well see what we can do with that.

October, my favorite month, is coming, as well as my birthday. It’s always a time to take stock…both personally and otherwise. Life continues to feel surreal, but I’m beginning to settle in. It’s odd being out of the workforce, but given how much time we gave our business, it feels right somehow. October is also magickal as we observe Samhain, or Halloween if you prefer. It’s the time when the veil is thinnest, and those of us who have left the physical realm come into our awareness. We experience our Oneness with them, and our collective consciousness with Source. It’s a time to remember who we are and to experience the joy of hearth and home. A time for fellowship as the season moves into winter.

And you know what the best part of harvest has been? The fact that most of the garden was an afterthought. When the dome greenhouse became complicated with the underground part added, I bought two more greenhouses and decided to put in the outside garden. All this bounty from an afterthought..how cool is that!

 

~Blessed Be the garden and all its bounty!