Tuesday, October 04, 2011

Time to be thankful


While digging up what some Germans would call earth-apples,
not only was I murmuring one of my favourite poems,
but thinking of how painful it was to plant them,
not knowing at the time there were some litres of water bubbling in my lungs.
And although I felt this time the digging took ten times longer, I felt thankful.
A good harvest it was, much better than in 2010.

Same goes for apples, pears, walnuts,
of which some got harvested this afternoon.
Not to speak of plums, beans, onions, carrots,
Kohlrabi etc., and ... all these delicious tomatoes.


An urban dweller might, of course, not know
how fruits and vegetables do taste
that have not been spiced with insecticides and pesticides.





14 comments:

  1. A fine crop Sean. Definitely time for a harvest festival!

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  2. We also call it, "Pomme de terre" in Quebec.

    Is it also Thanksgiving in your country this week-end? Let's be grateful that you have recovered from this painful congestion. And that you had the courage to seed your land in spite of it. What a beautiful crop!

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  3. How wonderful that you can grow ypur own food. I've been wishing I could do so for years. Even more wonderful is that your lungs are so much better now.

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  4. It's a grand harvest, Sean, and I'm thankful you're there to share and enjoy it. How good it will taste!

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  5. A lovely sight. It inspires me to work a bit more diligently in my own (metaphorical) garden even when I may feel dispirited about it. Thanks. (All is not too bad in not the worst of all possible worlds)

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  6. I am so glad to see a fruitful harvest :-)

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  7. Well Sean, that ís a great harvest! Those potatoes look great for a good Kartoffelnsalat. Or for a Dutch huzarensalade?

    By the way, as weblog.nl seems to be completely messed up with its migration, i opened a new weblog at Wordpress: www.villalarepubblica.wordpress.com. You can follow me there. I'm just importing the older articles at the moment, but new articles will follow soon. The accent of the blog will be mainly on the arts, in particular in The Hague and around.

    Geniet van de aardappels!

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  8. Jams,
    it's a daily (!) festival.

    Claude,
    oh ... yes ...
    last Sunday ... Erntedankfest (Harvestgratitudefestival).
    Interesting 'they' are tought to show their gratitude once a year. I am grateful each day, each minute. And I am not religious.

    Yes, I am grateful, too, that I do feel better. Planting the potatoes was no matter of courage, though. I did just not know how ill I was.

    Ashley,
    I do know many many other things I could and would prefer to do instead of ...; on the other hand, I do love to spontaneously enter the garden for some onions, parsley, carrots, sage or chive etc..
    As for my lungs: They do seem to enjoy that I am not smoking anymore. Forgiven ... forgiven, though, they do have not, yet.

    Stan,
    ... and to have a friend like you ...

    Andride Scottaire,
    lucky we are, hm? We'd not have to cope with the worst,yet.
    Growing carrots, potatoes etc. sometimes is 'no fun', but to harvest what you planted is ... such a pleasure.

    CherryPie,
    I think there ought to be a post about all those fruits that are not being picked, not being eaten ...

    Bertus,
    those potatoes give, indeed, a delicious aardappel-salad. :)
    weblog.nl have lots of reason to feel embarrassed. I feel sorry for them.
    Good, however, you decided to open a wordpress site.
    Why, by the way? Was / Is blogger not good enough?

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  9. There are three reasons Sean. 1. I wanted to make a new start with the Villa, 2. Wordpress is easier and 3. I started disliking google more and more.
    I still use blogspot for Villa gedichten as it has a very small audience and it is starting to be a nice collection.

    (after a short hot spell it's starting to be weather for mashed potatoes and Sauerkraut here!)

    Bertus

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  10. Bertus,
    now, these seem to be three good reasons. Were I not too lazy I'd also have given wordpress a try.
    Good luck with, and many visitors for your site. It looks fine.

    As for Villa Gedichten: I am a lousy judge, but from what I understood so far it has indeed become a fine collection. Friends of poetry who do not speak Dutch. deserve them to be translated. :)

    As for your second follower, DagEnDauw. Did you visit her sites? I like many of her paintings. Unfortunately, I can not at least let her know as her type of comment box does not accept me commenting.

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    Replies
    1. Did Bertus and you ever get into contact?

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    2. As a matter of fact I lost touch with his blog (and several others) since I started my new blog, only recently (because of your comment) I've returned once more for a visit to his "Villa" and found out he also moved there.
      So, to answer your question : Not realy, I just read his poetry when I was still "living" in my Labyrinth

      =]

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    3. And why, dear Dauw, did you (decide to) leave your Labyrinth?
      I always enjoyed to get lost in. :)

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