Offerings for the birds

This morning, as I was picking blueberries, I heard my neighbors drive off to church. I was already in my church, dropping berries into my big colander as the sun finally climbed over the trees, listening to the birds singing, my cat Robin Hood twining between my feet, my chickens grabbing the berries I dropped.

I believe that a balanced and healthy relationship with Nature is essential to a balanced and healthy life. I believe that a greater Consciousness, of which we are a part, creates physical reality and we are co-creators, part of a web of existence, not separate from it.

So today, after picking another couple of gallons to freeze, I will pull the bird netting off of the blueberries and allow the birds to finish off the harvest. There are still quite a few berries on these bushes, both ripe and unripe  – I could get at least another gallon if I left the netting on – but it’s important to me to share with the birds, to give them a gift that is the result of my labor planting, growing, pruning and fertilizing the blueberries. After all, they give me so much -- their songs and beauty, not to mention the insect control. I acknowledge the web of life with this gift, and I'll offer a prayer and a song to the spirits of the land as well on this fine morning.

 Here’s an interesting article on how food gardening is taking off in Britain.

Back to my blueberries!