Gathering the Harvest
It’s a thought-provoking time of year. As we move through September, the fields around us are changing and harvest time is well underway. Later this month, on 29 September, we mark the International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste, encouraging us to think about the food we grow and harvest, its journey to us and the importance of making good use of what is produced.
There’s something special about the landscape at this time of year. Fields become a patchwork of golds, greens and freshly turned earth. Tractors trundle along country lanes, combine harvesters sweep through crops and bales of straw appear across the landscape. Birds swoop down for spilt grain, while tiny harvest mice scurry amongst the grasses. And is the old scarecrow’s work finally done for another year?
After all those months of growing, has it been a good harvest?
Around the world, harvest looks very different. It might be wheat or maize, rice gathered from paddy fields, grapes from the vines or baskets overflowing with fruit and vegetables. Some crops are gathered by huge machines, while others still rely on many pairs of hands.
Harvest has also long brought communities together. Villages celebrated with displays of produce and a special loaf made by the local baker, often shaped like a sheaf of wheat with a tiny mouse nestled amongst the ears.
Sharing food was part of the harvest too, including with older or poorer members of the community. Today that tradition continues in a different way, as schools, churches and community groups collect food for food banks and others who may need a little extra help.
What will inspire your creativity this week?
🎨 Bringing in the Harvest 🚜
Fields of crops, farm machinery, bales of straw or the bustle of harvest underway.
🎨 A Feast of Colour 🌾
Fruit, vegetables, grains and other produce. Explore their shapes, colours, patterns and textures.
🎨 Harvest Around the World 🍇
From rice fields and vineyards to maize, olives or other crops. Take inspiration from how and what people harvest in different places.
🎨 Wildlife at Harvest Time 🐁
Birds grabbing at fallen grain, tiny harvest mice scurrying through the grasses or other wildlife making the most of the changing fields.
🎨 The Old Scarecrow 🐦⬛
Standing guard as the harvest comes in. Make yours traditional, quirky or weather-beaten, or give it a character and story of its own.
🎨 Sharing the Harvest 👨👩👧👧
Harvest festivals and decorated loaves, people coming together, or the ways food is collected and shared with others today.
Or perhaps something else has caught your imagination. As always, the choice is yours.
See you on Wednesday at 7:30 pm (UK time).
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