Laden with Abundance
The week past was an overload, fundraisers, frolicking, show and sales. All good things really but coming all at once was almost overwhelming. Almost I say because here I am Monday morning on the other side of overwhelm resting with abundance. Walking about The Ranch this foggy, moisty morning the persimmon tree in winter showed off her ripe jewels dangling unashamed from her naked body, the orange fruit glowing in the gray fog. She is both fecund and bare at the same time, full of fruit but bereft of leaves. These old trees dot the valley in this area. The young tree planted many decades ago when people knew what to do with the fruit. Now the ancient beauties offer their bounty from gnarled, twisted fingers dropping the succulent fruit to the ground when their withered hands can no longer hold the weight. We humans try to use fruit as best we can but I haven’t found any recipes that call for much more of the mash than a cup or so. Drying the slices it is nice but still makes only the tiniest dent in the harvest. And so it is that the birds gobble much of the succulent produce, a solstice feast like on other. The rest? Well the rest fall to the ground. But that has it’s purpose too a feast for the wee critters of the ground, first the rodents and the bugs then the microbes work their magic. Nothing is wasted in the end. And so I will try to process the bounty this week, cook up something new, share it with you, and if some drops to the ground well I’ll have faith that someone, something will make use of what was too heavy for me to hold.