It is September. The gardens are giving their final push. The colors are richer, the days cooler and crisper, and the desire to store away stronger. The air is thick with anticipation and change. There are signs everywhere of summer’s departure. We bring in the harvest, while the birds gather for their nests and the crickets sing. So it goes.

While the mornings and nights carry a chill, the afternoons remain golden and warm, leaving us still a zeal for the ounce of summer that remains. At the end of August, our peaches were ready. One tree in our front yard edible landscaping yielding us well over 2 bushels. We ate as many as we could fresh, froze slices, canned preserves, enjoyed peach iced tea, peach salsa, and even made a small batch of peach barbecue sauce for the freezer. It was a great blessing of abundance.

Our raspberries are an “everbearing” variety, so we have a round of canes that produce in early summer, and another that produces in early fall. We have been harvesting daily, eating plenty fresh, and freezing the rest for winter enjoyment.

While our edible squash did not fair well in the garden this year, the decorative gourds and mini pumpkins have been prolific, and I won’t have to purchase any for decorating this year. Our windowsills are lined with mini pumpkins and our countertops filled with tomatoes. Aside from the plenty of salsas, tomato soups, and BLTs we’ve been making with fresh tomatoes, we have simply been coring the excess and popping them in the freezer for canning another day when things slow down a bit.

We still have celery in the ground and a whole market row of cabbage that is just about ready to be turned into a big batch of winter sauerkraut. Carrots are being harvested in successions and our fall planting of bush beans are flowering. Normally I am ready to be done with the garden by this time, but this year I feel thankful that we still have a month or two of work outdoors.

Early I wake, and the crisp, misty morning air mingles with the smell of brewing coffee. I’m hardly able to finish my cup before it gets cold. And a hot tea in the evenings is no longer an uncomfortable affair that makes us overheat. The sound of the high school marching band can be heard drifting through our small town as they practice in the mornings or celebrating a win on Friday nights. All impending signs that fall is indeed near.

Ecclesiastes 3 tells us that “for everything there is a season” and one of those seasons is “a time to pluck up what is planted.” God’s promised seasons are always good and timely, and they provide a rhythm for us to walk in. As we pluck up what is planted in the gardens this harvest season, I am also examining the garden of my heart. Are there any weeds that are taking too much nutrients from the soil? A crop that has been left in the ground too long and is rotting? Or maybe growth that has died back and needs to be pruned in order to flourish in a future season. All of these things manifest in our hearts in the form of sin, worldly desires, bad habits, lack of discipline, refusal to let go, and the like. It is time to tend to them.

I have lots of plans for fall. Decorating I want to do and trips to take and recipes to create… but my ultimate goal is to “Be much more in prayer. Spend longer time in holy adoration. Read the scriptures more earnestly and constantly. Watch [my] life more carefully.” (Charles Spurgeon)

Blessings on your Harvest Home,

—Kaetlyn