.: The Root Children :.

{Carrying in some of what she and her siblings had harvested!}

.: The process of growing vegetables is one that involves our whole family from garden to table.  It seems like so long ago that we began this incredible process,  but today as we harvest our carrots, potatoes, onions, and garlic, we come full circle.  I feel thankful for the earth and feel good about the effort that went into these perfect gifts.  As the summer wanes, our efforts are made manifest in the form of gorgeous whole foods that were grown with love. We are mindful of these things as we harvest on this day...

 

{Every new carrot harvested from the ground was more exciting to him than the last!}

.: This wooden box  holds special meaning for me. My Grandfather invested much time in nature and in farming. He modeled respect and appreciation for the intricacies found everywhere around us in nature.  He made these wooden boxes for his wood shop. They once held the things that helped him in his work and in the organization of his shop.  It was in one of these wooden boxes and under his gentle guidance that my first seedlings grew.  

After his passing  I collected each wooden box that he made and brought them into our home. They now hold some of our wooden toys, art supplies, and teas in our kitchen. His memory lives on in our home through gentle reminders of things he made and of the sparrows sitting outside of my window.  I feel his presence as I garden and I like to think that he would be proud to see my children carrying in the harvest in one of his handmade wooden boxes.

.: It is an incredible feeling pulling edible treasures out of the ground that were previously obscured by  deep rich soil.  Seeing only a peek of orange my family and I are excited to pull up many vitamin-packed carrots! We picked only some of the carrots and potatoes today as it is still a bit early.  Our tummies were certainly ready as we enjoyed an unforgettable medley of home-grown root vegetables for dinner!

.: Digging into this earth to harvest these golden treasures helps me to feel connected and grounded. The children are running happily around the raised beds as though at an easter egg hunt. They dig into the rich soil and scoop up small handfuls of earth, eagerly anticipating the cool smooth stones buried below.

 

.:  If you have ever sown a seed or transplanted a plant you have acted as surrogates for the plants. We make ourselves sensitive to their struggles, we amend, we water. We bear witness to the flowering and the birth of brilliant illuminated green geometries of wonder. We also watch it all wither and fade to compost. Time means different things for different people. When it unfolds as a rhythmic, dynamic, and creative transfiguration of energy into living matter, then we can begin to see how powerful raising our own food can be.

 

.: I am increasingly convinced that food is something to be engaged with at all stages. A family garden plot is (one) of the places where food is not a shrink-wrapped abstraction, but something that we contribute to in a small way to nurture into being. We all invested personal energy into the cultivation of these vegetables. To the degree that we understood the plants and attended to their needs during all phases of their growth was the portion of benefit imparted by the harvest in return.