Now THIS is summer

Now THIS is summer

Compared to last year we are having a truly blessed summer for growing. Yeah it was miserably hot last week (recording breaking) but our garden has been soaking it up and we are now harvesting. Susan was looking back at pictures of the garden from last year around the same time and the differences are staggering. Our beans were not nearly as lush and ready for business as this years "bean castle" pictured above...it has just begun to produce and I expect in no time at all it will begin to overflow with innumerable beans - perhaps we'll even be able to freeze some!

Last years corn never fully matured before the weather turned on us; the same was true for our wild grown blackberries with which I am still intent on trying to make some homemade wine. If I find the time and energy, THIS will definitely be the year for it. But our corn now is taller than me and will likely be giving up delicious ears within a couple of weeks (I think!)

We are now officially out of the goat business. Having sold the goats we bought beef from Straitside Ranch and so, in a way, we ate our goats. We now intend on expanding our poultry business which is far more lucrative and we may even find ourselves selling at next years Suquamish Farmer's market.

I should perhaps be cautious in singing of the glories of this summer because in the past, August has turned ugly on us. And August has only just begun! I notice now that as I leave for work in the mornings it is beginning to get more and more dark and I will admit it is a little depressing to see ourselves already beginning to go down that short slide into the season of rain, cold, snow, mud, and darkness. But such are the seasons and like life, we must take the good with bad. Fr. Irenaios (visiting priest from Holy Resurrection in Tacoma) said in part last Sunday: we must take the Eucharist out with us into the world and greet everything with thanksgiving and likewise we bring back to the Eucharist what we have manifested in our lives. It's like a great circle of Thanksgiving and we must be aware that all of life is Eucharist and when we recognize and act upon this, we may, with purified hearts, make our offering in the Church.

It's easy to be thankful right now as I walk my way through the garden, but will I let myself retain that joy when it is a muddy moonscape in December?