Pumpkin Patching // Living off God's Green Earth

It's become a yearly tradition now... a trip to the pumpkin patch, a few token photographs of children piled high on freshly picked balls of orange. Two little girls who know the ropes, and one boy who looks decidedly unimpressed! Even with breadstick in hand! But nevertheless, we braved the cold with lovely friends and set out on our expedition...

And it wasn't long before he was smiling along with the rest of us...

There is something wonderful and joy-filling about pick your own farms. Somehow it seems to satisfy some deep-down yearning in us to get back to our roots, to work the land and live off God's green earth. There is something wonderful about using your hands, drinking deep gulps of fresh air while standing knee-deep in worm-filled earth and hoiking out a carrot or two. It doesn't compare to the satisfaction of harvesting your own crop, but there is something delightful about picking vegetables straight from the ground before returning home to cook them into some delicious soup or stew...

A slower pace... a morning spent appreciating that food doesn't simply land on our table... its a journey. The provision of God, the labour of farmers and gardeners... the effort of some small people getting grubby hands while pulling a stem of brocolli for tea. A new kind of appreciation...

And so much learning to be done... finding the biggest, the smallest, the heaviest! Recognising variety in size and shape and colour... why do some thrive and some die? All questions forged by little minds and answered in the classroom of the great outdoors...

Exploration of every kind...

The joy of discovery...

And the wonder of watching, of taking it all in...

Just an average day at the pumpkin patch!