September

The hedgerows are teeming with life, most of it edible, we have so far (apart from the tree load of apples which our garden supplies) blackberries – loads, hedge garlic (still prolific) raspberry leaves for tea, haws for Haw-sin sauce and
a few other bits and pieces. In a few weeks the elderberries will be ready, the damsons up the lanes will start to turn and it will be all hands to the preserving pan, if only the apples would stop falling long enough for us to pick some to put away!! The wheat is in, but not processed quite yet, it will have to be milled soon, ready for the beginning of October and the coming of the inevitable Harvest Thanksgivings. The Cat has started complaining about the weather, but it’s not quite time for the log burner, which reminds me to call the log man and have him deliver a ton of (well managed) hard wood for the winter. In opposition to the hedgerows the fields are slowly becoming bare, they won’t regenerate themselves as the hedgerows will. It seems to be a good model for a spiritual life, but our churches all appear to be following the fields, I wonder if their ‘soil’ is as tired and in need of constant ‘fertiliser.’ Something to muse on for Sunday last!