Land Gifts vw#5 – Nature’s Food Bank
Today as I glanced out the kitchen window, a movement caught my eye. There they were, the makers of the tracks I‘d observed on the snow for the last 2 weeks! California Quail, approximately a dozen of them at the top of the lower orchard, running around on the new snow and thrusting their little heads down (while never mussing their curved head plumes) retrieving the food they had come for.
I suddenly realized what was feeding them. Why, it was last year’s apple harvest which had been so plentiful, so late, and with so many small-sized fruits! I hadn’t picked many; just the biggest ones, disdaining the small ones. I was too busy with other priorities; too hot, too tired.
Now, as I watched the busy cluster of these beautiful creatures, I felt my heart healing a small weight that I had been carrying since last fall’s abundant harvest (or should I say, my non-harvest?). Having been raised by my parents, both of whom were children of the depression and a pre-social-services government, I am deeply instilled in the moral imperative of not wasting food and fiber. I had been feeling somewhat guilty for leaving so much good food on the old apple tree.
As I watched the quail families, I
understood the lesson. I am forgiven for “wasting” these apples. Nature is
compensating for my deficiencies and transforming my neglect into her own bounteous
food bank. Our quail families were feasting on the apple seeds, the fallen
grass seeds, and maybe even on the remaining shriveled fruit lying under and being
softened by the snow.
Again, the Land Gives!
