for The Unicorn Challenge which is hosted by Jenne Gray and someone known as C.E.Ayr..
I was writing at a snail’s pace, hence my late arrival at the cherryfest!
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There is a corner of our fair isle known as The Garden of England. Here in the County of Kent, the time has come to garner nature’s bounty.
Just months ago in vast orchards, fruit trees painted the landscape with their displays of pink and white blossom.
In the height of summer, mighty combines travelled back and forth, their rotating blades levelling fields of swaying crops and harvesting grain. Machines made straw bales and sat them here and there like so many golden chess pieces.
Now, as autumn dawns, bows are heavy with green and red apples and ripe purple plums. Bulbous pears await the fruit picker’s hands and crimson cherries hang in twos like musical notes.
As the vintner prepares to harvest grapes from the sloping hillsides, brewer’s hops will be gathered, then stored in Kent’s familiar pointed oat houses.
Soon Mother Nature will enjoy a well-earned rest, for once again she has provided us with a harvest as great as any before. Trees will shed their leaves as the soil below protects dormant seeds and plays host to hibernating creatures of the undergrowth.
Here in the Garden of England, next year, the one after and those to come will see the cycle repeat itself, just as it did in days gone by.
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© Ayr/Gray
Lovely
Thanks, Beth!
As I read your nature story word by word, line by line, paragraph by paragraph I kept waiting for the ending – where or when or how the surprise ending (crazy ending) would appear. I sighed with relief that all is well in the Garden of England.
I resisted the urge to say something stupid! You see, I can do it if I try.
If nothing else, my comment does prove I read and analyze your posts. 🙂
Indeed it does, I must bear that in mind from now on!
An absolute delight, Keith! I was right by your side for this trip to the Garden of England!
I sensed your presence! Thanks, Nancy.
Lovely scene. Yes, from time immemorial, weather and plunderers permitting. Forgive me this one quick note: Combines harvest grain. Either the straw-chopper shreds and scatters it or a baler will bale the straw for bedding. Haymaking is something else.
Thank you for pointing that out Christine. Having been surrounded by the countryside for most of my life, I really should have known that! I have amended the paragraph and recreated the audio accordingly!
Lovely piece, Keith.
But my understanding is that, after the folly of Brexit, much of Nature’s bounty is left unpicked due to the lack of casual workers from abroad.
There is a problem, but I chose not to incorporate that in my piece!
Happily, though, my local greengrocer has masses of Kentish produce right now from fruit to vegetables, and every main road around here has stall after stall along the way.
That’s good news, Keith.
I had to skip my annual visit to Kent this year, due to a Covid attack, and I miss it, it is beautiful.
One day we might meet up for a pint of Sasanach Beer!
That’s been my plan for a while, old pip, but that’s 2 successive summers I’ve not been down because of bliddy Covid!
That’s so generous of nature to provide for un, ungrateful humans, year after year
Indeed it is, Sadje, Mother Nature doesn’t judge.
Thankfully 😅
Nature’s gives us tirelessly. A rest at the end of its growing cycle is beyond well deserved. Well said Keith.
She certainly deserves it. Thanks, Suzette.
Thank You Keith. Have a good one!
It is a joy to watch the cycle of nature, isn’t it.
Beautiful story, Keith, reminding us of the cycles of life.
I’m glad you resisted the temptation of the surprise ending in this case and left me feeling uplifted.
Thank you for your kind words, Jenne.
Nature provides. We should do better to give our thanks
Indeed we should, Maria.
Hi Keith – we are blessed with all the fruits of nature … if we could only stop and wonder at what the earth gives us – incredible bounty – Harvest Festival of the best kind to follow in a few weeks. Well done – so pleased no politics or sourness here – cheers Hilary
This is great Keith!! Nature gives us so much goodness.