Would this sign say something different to the teachers and practitioners of the various religions?
To the renunciate and the householder?
As I walk around the neighborhood seeing all the pumpkins on stoops, like Proust with his madeleines, I remember the scent of roasting pumpkin seeds and the salty taste on my tongue, and I return to the place of my childhood. My mother wasn’t much for holidays, but she very much enjoyed arts and crafts projects. The jack-o-lantern, was something then that showed up when we were little kids. I don’t think there was ever a jack-o-lantern carved when we did not eat the seeds. Part of the project was cleaning the seeds, oiling a cookie sheet, spreading the seeds out on the sheet, salting them, and roasting them until golden, and then enjoying the seeds as a special salty treat. I think it unlikely she has decorated a pumpkin at home since I was in early elementary school, but if she were to do it now, in addition to roasting the pumpkin seeds, I am sure she would decorate the outside instead of cutting it into a jack-o-lantern, so that the pumpkin could also be used for soup or pie.
Here is what is coming up from last year–perennials, volunteers, or things I planted in the fall (in order photographs appear and from front to back and left to right within photos): ruby chard, hyacinth, oregano, strawberry, cilantro, garlic, beets, brussels sprouts, kale, mizuna, parsley, arugula, lemon thyme, italian flat leaf parsley, echinacea, garlic, roses, spring onions, chives, mache. I will be planting seeds in the morning.
If you haven’t seen it already on the District Kula website, please check out my guest post for District Kula on my Thanksgiving tradition–the Thanksgiving Day fundraising class for Oxfam. Many thanks to District Kula for inviting me to blog as a guest.
It is wonderfully healthy to grow some of our own food, and taking care of ourselves with diet today became that much more important. But we still all need access to medical care too. Please, if you have one, pick up the phone and call your senators to defend the Affordable Care Act and move towards a single payor system that would cover more people not fewer and would respect the rights and health needs of women.
