Episode 23: The Call to Rest

Only the second bloom from Sweet Natalie this year, but she’s stunning.

In this episode . . .

Return of the juncos. Autumn’s call to rest. Harvesting bean seeds. Late season harvests. The beauty of stolen yard waste. My compost cycle. Starting new beds.

Specific plant varieties mentioned: Coyote tomato, Gem marigold series, Silver Years dahlia, Lakeview Peach Fuzz dahlia.

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Otherwise this week, I’m . . .

Savouring: The return of the Juncos to the garden.

Tending: Planting garlic, starting the new compost, expanding beds, refreshing the woodchips paths and mulching.

Harvesting: Dahlias, cosmos, herbs, swiss chard, kale, mouse melons, green tomatoes.

A mid-September view of my friend’s front lawn that we made over with the lasagna method. This was scrubby, unhappy grass just six months ago. You can do this too!

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Cross-pollination

I can’t help myself — I shout with joy for all this raggedness, for every hole in every plundered leaf, for every cracked acorn and every gnawed pumpkin and every plucked berry, for every glorious spiderweb draping the corners of every window and skeining the trailing stems of creeping jenny.

Give me an hour, and I will be at my window. Give me a day, and I will write praise song after praise song to this shabby, beat-up brokenness, this paltry plot of tattered abundance that feeds so many hungry ones in a hot, hungry world.

Margaret Renkl, “I Am in Love with Flowers That Are Ruined”

You can also listen to a wonderful conversation between Margaret Renkl and Jennifer Jewell on a recent episode of Cultivating Place.

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I had trouble getting myself to finish this episode this week, with all the acute suffering of a war and a humanitarian crisis in Gaza. But I recognize that this podcast is also a source of comfort for some, and so better late than never, I hope. May we all move toward peace and liberation, but in the meantime, I hope nature can offer a little grounding and comfort.

Thanks for listening.

Jen