It's Finally Happening

The garden harvest has finally really begun.  Here is the haul from this morning — green beans, cucumbers, tomatoes, zucchini, and green peppers. 

Our "three sisters" are growing very differently in the two spots we planted them.  These mixtures of corn, beans, and squash are the traditional planting of Native Americans.  In this patch, the corn is strong and tall, easily supporting the beans and the squash with their yellow flowers are spreading out below.

But in the other patch the corn is much shorter.  This stalk was pulled all the way down by a hearty bean plant.

I don't really know when to dig potatoes, but the Yukon Gold had completely died back so it seemed like it was time.  When we started digging we found that most of the potatoes were rotten with fungus.  We don't want that!  So we ran over to the blue potatoes with withered plants and started digging. 

They were doing much better.  We got over half the row dug and almost filled a five gallon bucket. 

Our fall plantings aren't doing well.  I haven't done much planting for a fall harvest so I'm learning everything the hard way.   We planted three weeks ago and in spite of watering daily we haven't seen much growing.  Walking out this morning I discovered some baby pea plants that would be several inches tall but had been eaten back to almost nothing!  It's probably slugs or ear wigs.  I sprinkled some diatomaceous earth and I'm hoping they will be protected. 

I am gaining a new appreciation for the part of the Eucharistic Prayer, "fruit of the earth and work of human hands."  God gives us so many good things but we have to meet God in the middle to receive them.  We must fully participate.  There is such an abundant harvest, but we if we don't go out there, weed, harvest, and preserve, it's all gone.  So many wonder at the presence of God, but they are looking around from their easy chairs instead of out in the garden where God is waiting for them.  I get lazy, but every time I wander in the garden, God rewards me.  I suspect there are other parts of my life that require a little wandering and work.