Sunday 30 September 2007

Angels and gardening

Fr Ray has the text of the Homily the Holy Father gave at the episcopal ordinations yesterday, which if you are as ignorant as me (you probably aren't) is very instructive and soothing to read.


Somewhere else (that's helpful isn't it?) I read about Michelmass Daisies and the harvest.


I dug up a 2x2m patch of my lawn over Easter and turned it into a vegtable patch. It's been moderately successful, given the weather, but I've really enjoyed doing it and as it's right outside the back door and easy to manage even when I've had a lot of concerts on a work. I used some tomatoes, courgettes and rosemary in a stew I made today. I also planted a few flowers between patches of different veg so it's more like a cottage/kitchen garden and it has looked attractive at various points in the season. (Bit raggy now.) My parents and Grandma have had beans, carrots, peas, and I've had lots of rocket (they don't like it.) The 5 parsnips that kindly germinated are in the ground awaiting a special occasion. Growing my own stuff has made me more restrained as you can't just get more if you eat it, though the patch has produced about as much as I've needed per day. Think Manna in the desert except you pop out before meal for a few toms, beans, herbs, a carrot (big treat) and if it's been at all sunny a courgette.


OK Eco evangelistation over. I'm doing it cos I like gardening and cooking and it tastes good and you can cook folks nice dinners. I'm a woman and looking after people is what we do.


Anyway, I'm sure that if I bought Joanna Bogle's book on Saints and Seasons I could fill in a few more gaps about how the agricultural year and seasons link into the liturgical year. (Yeah, or what got lost at the Reformation, Huh.)


So, I see that now is when things flake out in the garden and that this has of course been know for some time by people in the past. And who was it who sorted out agriculture in this fair isle? Monks.

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