Faithful Seedling Starts - Cosmos and Zinnias - Missoula, Montana

"Faithfulness springs forth from the earth, and righteousness looks down from heaven.

The Lord will indeed give what is good, and our land will yield its harvest." - Psalm 85:11,12

(BTW, cosmos seed starts were especially gratifying, startlingly sprouting above the soil in 24 hours!) 

Harvest Path - Near Park City, Montana

“A quiet presence over takes me, and my pulse slows. My hands relax, and my palms open spontaneously as I am reduced to blessed clarity. I feel subtle yearning for adventure, similar to the way I felt last fall. Haven't I been counting on seeing new paths? Don't they abound everywhere, out here?”

-Joan Anderson, in A Year By The Sea, p.97

Pear-Fection - Missoula, Montana

"There are only ten minutes in the life of a pear when it is perfect to eat." 

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

(Yes, this is an Asian pear, of the home-grown, Montana variety - the best kind of proof that it pays to be on the good side of the right people at the office.)

Haystack - Missoula, Montana

"...The word agriculture, after all ... means "cultivation of land." And cultivation is at the root of the sense both of culture and of cult. The ideas of tillage and worship are thus joined in culture. And these words all come from an Indo-European root meaning both "to revolve" and "to dwell." To live, to survive on the earth, to care for the soil, and to worship, all are bound at the root to the idea of a cycle. " (pg. 285, The Use of Energy)

- Wendell Berry, The Art of the Commonplace: The Agrarian Essayst

Pumpkin Parlour - Missoula, Montana

“I would rather sit on a pumpkin, and have it all to myself, than be crowded on a velvet cushion.” - Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)

Last On The Summer Vine - Livingston, Montana

On a recent jaunt to Livingston, Montana, Big Sister #2 happened to be on weekend farm chore rotation at Montessori Island School, where she works. (Clarification: It is not on an island, but it does have a smattering of farm critters.) Thus, after Sunday morning church, we zipped across town to tend to the needs of the sheep (singular), goat, chickens, and varied vigorous vegetables. Actually, 'we' didn't tend to anything - I watched and took pictures while Sis did all the work. It was rather fascinating to see this former city girl in her element in a wee farmyard. Amazing what happens to people when they fall in love and move to live under the Big Sky. I've heard tell that even a short visit can forever change your views.

You Say Tomato, Missoula, Montana

It's getting to be the time of year when tomato lovers keep a keen eye on the forecast and cover their ripening charges for the night if temperatures dip close to freezing. Every fall, our basement playroom was carpeted with green tomatoes laid out to ripen on old bedsheets. (Nothing quite so unexpected as the squelch of a wayward fruit under your little foot - ick!)

Corn Rows, Victor, Montana

Several weeks ago, a neighbor treated us to some ultra-tender new corn - yum! - from Benson's Farm in Missoula, Montana. When my family visited in early September, we enjoyed several varieties of bigger ears;  my favourite was BoJangles.

Onions, Onions - Ha Ha Ha!, Hamilton, Montana

Onion and chive flowers have always pleased my eye for their perfect globular shape, especially when contrasted against darker vertical lines of upright onion stems. Looking closer, you see a world within a world, seeds of tomorrow's harvest hidden in the fading glory of today.