Photo by BJ Lecrone

On October 6, eight participants gathered at the outdoor picnic tables on a beautiful fall morning to respond to issues of autumn gathering.  Led by Nancy Morgan, the group began by sharing memories of parents’ and grandparents’ activities related to preparing food for winter storage.  Our combined exchange wove an image of common history, people nodding as one person talked about their grandmothers’ waxed beans or another visiting the passing truck piled high with apples to sample a few.  We then went out into the landscape, senses alert, to find evidence of nature’s preparation for winter: coloring leaves, unusual seedpods, boughs heavy with a new crop of nuts, a change in the quality of light.  Poems we listened to were John Greenleaf Whittier’s “The Corn Son”‘ and Robert Frost’s “After Apple Picking.”