Squash Blossom 2012

It has been a few weeks since I have made the time to blog, but I believe the emergence of squash blossoms in our garden is a wonderful opportunity to stop, reflect, and write. Every year, since starting a home garden, I've made it a point to take time, no matter how busy my schedule, to enjoy the squash blossoms.

They don't really emanate a strong fragrance, but they are a reminder that soon food will be arriving to the Williams homestead. My ancestors would perform intricate quill and bead work designs that were representations of the squash blossom and a reminder of the beauty and bounty of the created world. The Creator of the universe provides us with all good things, and fills our world with beauty. The sad thing is that many of us miss out on seeing this beauty. Whether we busy ourselves too much and don't make space to enjoy these little gifts, or if we are simply lacking in thanks, the fault is our own.

Beyond its beauty, for me, the squash blossom is a catalyst for memories. Memories of tribal gardens of the past, memories of family gardens growing up, and memories of the many meals provided by growing, harvesting and cooking crops together with family and friends fill my mind as I look at these beautiful flowers.

If you don't have a garden, you can still plant a squash, and see this flower and it's fruit before summer is over. Jamie and I planted in June and have enjoyed a couple of squash and zucchini already. For just a small investment, you can provide food for yourself and your friends and family for multiple days.

It is truly amazing that God not only meets our physical needs through foods we can grow, but also does it in a way that if we are willing to take time we can see traces of beauty all around us.

I'm thankful for squash blossoms and the bounty provided from these beautiful broad leafed flowering plants.

Squash Blossom 2011

One of the most beautiful flowers I believe I have ever seen is the squash blossom. My ancestors thought so much of this flower that it was incorporated into clothing, footwear, jewelry, and accessories for hundreds of years. The squash blossom in its simple beauty also served as a reminder that some of the bounty of the early harvest was coming soon. It was a portent of the late harvest to come as well.

It was and is a symbol of beauty and fragility too. For the last four years, I have kept a garden at my house, and every year I write a post as I see the squash blossom open early in the morning to sunbathe it’s delicate saffron petals. I feel like skills like growing food are becoming quickly forgotten in the West. In my family, we have always grown food, and we have had a longstanding tradition of sharing our harvest with friends and neighbors, and canning some of our harvest to store for the winter months as well.

I realized that I was missing a great deal by not having a garden. I was missing an understanding of where food comes from. I was missing an awareness of what it means to labor for my food. I was missing the joy that comes at harvest time when there is food to eat and grand celebration. My family is Shawnee, and many of my tribe’s ancient ceremonies are intricately tied to planting and harvest.

This year, I have had the distinct joy of planting together with my wife. It is the first time in her life she has planted any crop. And it is exciting to watch her eyes light up as well when she sees the seeds that she planted earlier this year provide food for our new life together and food that we can share with others.

There is an unexplainable sense of gratitude I feel to the Creator of the universe that I experience uniquely when I taste and see the harvest coming. All I did was prepare the soil and drop a seed in the ground, and then amazingly that seed becomes a plant and that plant produces food. Around the world and throughout the history of humanity, I believe that farmers around the world experience that wonderful mixture of gratitude and joy that happens when they see the growth of their crop and they prepare for the harvest and celebration of food to eat for their families.

And for me and my wife this year, we look at the beautiful bouquet of squash blossoms erupting from our garden as an indicator of the harvest to come, and we are thankful.

Squash Blossom 2009

For the last few years, I've been growing a garden in my yard in Morgantown. This year, I think I've taken fewer photos, but I've been trying to spend more time in the actual maintenance of the garden. Recentyly I've started waking early to run and get started with work for the day, and by the time I make it to the garden, the blossoms on my squash and zucchini plants have closed.

I'm getting plenty of zucchini and yellow squash from these plants though. In fact, me, Joel, Jamie, and Derek have been enjoying quite a few meals featuring rice, squash, zucchini, basil, and onions (all but the rice is coming from the garden).

It's pretty cool to think that during these summer months, I can get a large part of my sustenance (and also feed others) from a small square garden in a little corner of my yard. What's even cooler is the idea that I'm joining in solidarity with the majority of our world who still live through small subsistence farms--I'm not even growing enough for subsistence, but I must say there is something different about eating vegetables that have come from a small piece of land 50 feet from your doorstep.

It's a good reminder that God is the one who causes growth, and that He brings good things from the earth. I planted the garden, and my roommates and I cultivated the soil, but God has brought much food from a small grain of seed that fell to the ground and died. Much of what Jesus said about fields, about grain, and about farming can only be understood superficially or in theory by those who have never grown crops. Next year, regardless of where you live, plant something and watch it grow and produce miraculously.

I think you'll be amazed at it all. God not only produces a lot of food, but He produces beauty while He's at it. He takes the time to make the flower on the squash one of the most beautiful large flowers around. It's a reminder. We in the West are caught in the snares of pragmatism--we work for efficiency. God does something different. He produces, but He always takes time for the aesthetic, for the beautiful.

Take a look at your life. There may be the pain from dying to yourself like a seed. There may be productivity from all of the work of your hands each day. But more than anything, there is a deep and abiding beauty in your life, and in the lives of others as we are faithful to the calling God has entrusted to each of us.

May you catch a glimpse of your own God given beauty as you are faithful to your call today and every day!

Corn Flower

Corn Flower, originally uploaded by chanchanchepon.

I certainly hope folks aren't getting tired of pictures from my garden. I'm just so fascinated by the thing that I keep taking pictures and writing notes and exploring all that is going on in this little square of my yard. To me, it is just soooo cool that from a few seeds, some dirt, some water, and sunshine emerge all of these plants. I remember when there was nothing in that little square of my yard, and now--it's going like gangbusters.

So I've been learning some stuff about corn. Of course Indigenous people here in america are credited with giving corn to the world. In shawnee the word is Tah-MEE. Our three main ceremonies of the year celebrate God's gift of corn to the people. In fact, there is a ceremony that comes up in August called the "green corn ceremony" ; it celebrates the arrival of corn for the people and the provision of God for food for another season.

My old chief used to talk about corn and corn flowers in such beautiful terms--I may blog more about it in the future. You see, what most of us call corn silk is actually a corn flower. What we call corn tassels, is also a corn flower. The corn silk is the female flower. My ancestors used to talk of the cornflower as the hair of a beautiful maiden who gave of herself to provide for the people. Each strand of corn silk goes down into the husk to one kernel of corn. It's almost like the cornflower is really a bouquet of cornflowers. Each strand nurturing one seed, one kernal, one gift of life.

It's pretty amazing when you think about it. In a day where most of us get our food from a grocery store, it's kind of cool to think about where that food comes from. Somebody has to grow it. Somebody has to plant a seed, and it takes a measure of faith to believe that little seed will grow into a plant that will produce beautiful flowers and food.

So when I look at these beautiful strands of "hair", I'm reminded of the One who gives life and nurtures each one of us. The One who provides every good and perfect gift. The One who lays down his life--unless a seed falls to the ground and dies it remains alone, but if it dies, it bears much fruit.

Pretty amazing that so much comes out of this beautiful, and yet unexpected flower. Be sure to take a moment as you enjoy the provision, to thank the provider.