What a beautiful fall morning it was today! Sun just peeking out from in-between some sparse clouds, light fog and gorgeous fall colors in the trees! And another new month has arrived! I really love this time of year with the holiday season and all it means, but I still can’t believe it’s here already. Hopefully we won’t all get so caught up in the hustle and bustle, but instead will take time to really enjoy and cherish the time we have with family and friends.
I’m so grateful to call our guest blogger today a friend as well as a co-worker! Laura Marlatt, a member of our circulation staff, works remotely from her home in Washington but is a very valuable member of our team. I’m not sure what I’d do without her! But today she shares something she is grateful for.
She writes:
When thinking about what I’m grateful for, a couple of things come to my mind – gardens and grandkids. They might be more related than you would originally suspect…
My husband (Papa Jer) and I have been blessed with 12 (and counting) beautiful grandchildren (no, I am not biased). We are lucky enough to have three that live just around the corner from us, so we get to be more involved in their lives.
I also have the privilege of getting to work at my awesome job from home! This being said – there are probably a few more ‘little interruptions’ in my day-to-day routine than a ‘normal working person’ might experience, but it’s also MUCH more enjoyable, I would bet!
I can hear the children’s voices outside, just as they are rounding the corner to our street. The 3 year old boy will bound into our home, just barely getting the door open before he starts yelling, “Maymee! I’n here! Its me!” If I am not right there to greet him, he continues to yell his greeting through the house and up the stairs until he finds me – always so excited to ‘surprise’ me that HE is here!
He then proceeds to tell me the events of the day, including “Papa Jer not here, he’s at work” (much to his 6 year old sister’s chagrin as she thinks she is ‘past’ that stage of constant excitement and a bit more reserved in her acceptance of things right here, right now, just the way they are. A little sad to see the skepticism of life at so young an age… AFTER she has circled nearly everything in the newest store circular that she thinks she wants for Christmas?!?)
It is so rejuvenating to feel the exuberance of childhood as I get to experience life through a child’s eyes; noticing things I usually take for granted or have somehow forgotten or pushed aside for ‘more important things.’
As we dug up the remaining carrots from our garden last weekend, the children helped gather them up into boxes & bags. They could see ‘shapes and faces’ in many of the fancy carrots that grew this year, their imaginations running wild with possibilities.
I listened to them reflect on the efforts made to plant, grow, water and weed the garden, and remember the amazement in their eyes the first time they visited after they’d helped to plant and green was beginning to shoot up throughout (it was probably weeds, but they weren’t bothered with that!).
Sure, the radish sandwiches were a ‘feast or famine’ this year, as the 6 year old accidentally dumped the entire package of seeds into one big pile rather than the long row created for them. But how excited she was to see what she planted actually growing! And each of the grandchildren have their own, favorite ‘sitting spot’ amongst the raspberry rows where they pick & eat to their hearts content (or until mom & dad calls them away)!
As they help gather cucumbers, green beans, tomatillos or even tomatoes (yuck! they say), their constant commentary of life is a wonderful reminder to me to ‘stop and smell the peppers’ rather than rush from one project to another!
Now that the garden spot is tilled and raked in preparation for winter, the 6 year old suggests a new place to plant pumpkins “so they will grow bigger and more next year!” What excitement!! Bring on the snow and a new season!!! Life is great! 🙂
Thank you so much, Laura! I was thinking many of the same types of things today – how I need to take a step back and just learn to really enjoy each moment life has to offer and how much good there is to see, if we take time to recognize it.
As a post-Halloween treat, I also have to give everyone a ‘sneak peek’ of our Progressive Forage Grower issue 9 cover. Even though we have a new editor, I still got to work with Kevin D. Brown, our in-house artist, on the cover this year. It won’t be in your mailbox until mid-November, but I couldn’t wait that long to share it with you!
As usual, I had an idea in my head but didn’t quite know what I wanted the end result to look like. So I turned it over to Kevin. As usual, he did something that far exceeded my original thought.
The inspiration for our cover this year came from a painting a reader had shared with us previously, as well as a thought I read somewhere that says, “You are the seed that decides the harvest around you.”
From those small ideas came a beautiful new painting titled “The Harvest” – which you can see below.
I absolutely love how it turned out! There is so much symbolism, in addition to just the beautiful artwork. Kevin found another quote that I think illustrates this idea perfectly, as well.
Credited to Cicero, it reads: “The harvest of old age is the recollection and abundance of blessing previously secured.”
Much to ponder and apply in our lives! Thank you so much, Kevin!