Harvest time

I always feel that the tail end of September is a joyous time for me. This brief lull in activity, before the clocks go back and the nights draw in, and the subsequent mad sprint towards Christmas, gives us time for reflection.

The summer holidays are over, the children are all back at school, the cooler weather is more to my liking, and the countryside takes on that beautiful variegated autumnal hue as the leaves turn from green to gold and then finally, to brown. I well recall the splendid ‘fall’ colours of New England, during my years spent working in the USA.

At home, particularly in rural communities, this time of year is celebrated with harvest festivals, and I try to attend as many as I can. Local ladies, for it is usually the ladies, put their talents to good use by ensuring that their village church looks its dazzling best, with magnificent floral displays enhanced by produce nurtured and gathered in by the keen gardeners amongst us. Not being a gardener myself, I am especially impressed by their skills and buy up as much as I can in the auctions that take place afterwards. I gain the benefit of fresh fruit, vegetables and flowers that have never darkened the doors of a supermarket, whilst also basking in the feel good factor from making a contribution to a good cause. A win/win situation for all concerned. This year I had the opportunity to use the produce I had acquired to prepare a harvest meal for our local Memory Café, held in the Minster Rooms, Ilminster. With the help of my fellow Rotarians we were able to serve up quite a feast.

Harvest festivals date back to pagan times, and are a combination of thanks for a successful harvest, combined with hopes and aspirations for a good one to follow. Our active participation in taking our various offerings to the altar allows us to share the experience collectively.

The common theme of the services I went to was not just being thankful for

the harvest, but also to consider those things that we as individuals have to be thankful for. In his first sermon at St. Peter’s Church, Horton, newly appointed Rector, Phil Denison, encouraged us to think outwardly, beyond our own needs. To consider what we produce in others’ lives and how our words and actions can have a positive influence on them, or otherwise.

In our increasingly busy lives we can sometimes fail to nurture our loved ones, which can have a devastating impact on our most important relationships.

In this context the analogy of ‘feeding the soil’ and allowing it time to rest in order to gain better results seems an appropriate one to ponder on as we go about our daily toil.

Ilminster Rotarians Linda Piggott-Vijeh; Ken Dewsbury; Danice Jackson