Always a Blessing

Hawk's Hill is a place where there is always a blessing.  The wind may have turned chilly overnight, but wind sweeps the air, brings change, and clears the sky.  And the blessing as I look up is a blue morning sky flocked with a herd of white sheep clouds sailing on that wind. 

The first light of morning touched the clouds with a buttery glow, and from the woods at the bottom of the hill, the black tree silhouettes stood in bold contrast against the blue sky, the golden-hued clouds,  and the lavender shadowed clouds yet untouched by the sun's warm rays.  A moment to pause and soak in the beauty feels like a deep blessing to this soul.


Walking back up the driveway out of the woods, I smile as I pass the garden because I know a secret.  I have buried gold under the rich black garden soil.  Saturday, during the thaw, I prized some of it loose from the earth with a pitchfork.  An inch of frozen earth gave way to my digging fork, uncovering Scarlet Nantes carrots planted last Fourth of July week along either side of 25-foot soaker hoses.  Now, the mature carrots rest in the soil, in Nature's refrigerator. 

 In spite of multiple temperature dips under zero degrees F due to the Polar Vortex, juicy, crunchy, sweet carrots are still held in stasis under that crust of hard-frozen earth.  The green tops died back long ago, even the top inch or two of most of the roots have been frozen through, but the rest of the golden-orange roots still tastes sweeter than store-bought carrots and feels like a rich blessing when I haul the fresh vegetables from the earth.  I hike them up to the outdoor faucet to rinse off, cutting off the soft tops with a Buck knife.  

I tossed the soft tops out into the field, where I imagined hungry White-Tailed Deer might nibble them overnight. 

Sunset on Hawk's Hill

 Sure enough, Sunday morning, my beloved pulled back the curtains from our bedroom window and pointed out three White Tailed Deer laying in the field, soaking up the early morning sunshine from their beds on the south side of Hawk's Hill.  In that moment, I felt a sense of community with the garden earth, the fresh carrots, the deer, and my true love, connected to all, and grateful for the connection.   A blessing.

On Hawk's Hill, I find there is always a blessing, whether in beauty, food, or connection with one another and the earth.  

May your day be filled with the awareness of blessings,
Betsy