All is safely gathered in

Published on by John’s Postcards

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1 backA post which was prompted by a question asked by a listener on Scala Radio last week – ‘When is all safely gathered in?’ In other words ‘when is the harvest complete?’. We weren’t in the car long enough to hear all the answers suggested by other listeners but I know there isn’t a set day when all the farmers can lock up their combined harvesters for another year, put their feet up and enjoy a well-earned rest after all their hard work. No doubt the finishing date of the harvest depends very much on the type of crop, weather conditions and geographical location.

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DSCF8498It’s our church Harvest Festival this Sunday and we will be following the practice of recent years of not offering gifts of fresh, home grown produce, but instead, providing non perishable items which in turn will be donated to the local YMCA food bank. This has significance in more ways than one; firstly, that most people in the congregation no longer grow their own fruit and vegetables, and secondly, the ever-growing need for food banks in 2019. This is a commendable idea but I do miss the sight and smell of all the potatoes, carrots, greens and apples which greeted us in earlier years.

Of course some things will never change as no harvest service is complete without the obligatory ‘We plough the fields…’ or ‘Come ye thankful people come…’!

All good gifts around us
Are sent from heaven above,
Then thank the Lord, O thank the Lord
For all His love.

 

 

17 thoughts on “All is safely gathered in”

  2. You had me singing along to the harvest hymns! Some years we’ve managed a couple of cuts of hay, this year sadly not, though I suspect the south of England did rather better than up here in Yorkshire.

    I too miss the fresh produce displays in churches and schools. It might help if they actually bothered to display the cans correctly, ie face the labels the right way around!

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  6. I agree; wonderful photos! All the grain has been gathered in here but some of the maize fields have still to be harvested. We are also waiting for the start of the sugar beet harvest but as the plants have hardly grown because of the drought I’m not sure when that will be.
    My husband and I will be taking our church’s Harvest Festival service on the 29th September. We usually decorate the church with fresh fruit and vegetables because the local nursing home always accepted the produce with pleasure. It has recently been taken over by new owners and we aren’t sure if they will want our offerings this year.

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