Celebrating Eating

Camping has always been something that I enjoyed, but wore me out.  This time was no different.  Hopefully the laundry will be finished by tomorrow.

It is good to be home — I missed the land just like I thought I would — but it's taking a while to get back into the routine.  As it gets colder I find more and more reason to stay inside.  I am a city girl after all, and the outdoors is really only for when it's nice.  "Real" farm people don't let the weather slow them down, I think.

We saved the burn pile for this time of year and I'm glad we did.  It added some welcome heat.   Some of this pile came from our work this year, but most of it has been waiting for many years.  This land we live on was an inheritance from my in-laws, adding another layer to the gratitude I feel for the land.  We joked that we were burning sticks that my father-in-law, gone almost eight years now, put on the pile.  I think it was true.  Feeding only a small amount at a time to keep the blaze safe, it took most of the day to burn it all.

While we were camping, most of the food we ate was "normal" store-bought food.  I not only missed this land, but I missed being fed by it.  There was an empty feeling to eating that made me despondent.  It was similar to the feeling that I get when I've missed several weeks of church.  It made me realize just how much every meal has become a celebration of the way God cares for me and my family.

But today we will eat homemade hamburger buns with hamburger patties from our local beef.  We will add slices of homemade colby fresh out of the cellar and tomatoes from the garden.  A watermelon, cherry tomatoes, and french fries from our garden will round it out.  It is good to get back to God.