How to Taste the Seasons

Some years ago the Lord began to ask me to honor his cycle of seasons in creation. So, in obedience, I began to change some of my home décor based on the rhythm of winter, spring, summer, and fall. But lately that hasn’t been enough—I need to taste the seasons.The Central Coast of California enjoys a mild climate most of the year. Some leaves change color in the fall; we have frost in the winter and heat in the summer, but most of the time we lack a significant change that marks the seasons. I think this lack of change has lulled my honor of God’s cycle of seasons into a note on my day planner to change my décor. Lost is the wonder that follows the Creator’s works and the honor of him that should be the result.Last Monday Tom and I took a new step into honoring God’s seasons by visiting Nature’s Touch Nursery and Harvest. I signed up for their weekly bag of locally grown, organic produce gleaned from the current harvest. Of course the items in the bag will change as the seasons change, challenging me to learn how to cook things I haven’t eaten since I was a child—things like chard, beets, and different varieties of winter squash.Eating each season’s harvest was normal when I was growing up on a ranch, but in the years since I’ve found the local grocery store to carry all the things I love to eat in season and out—hot-house grown food or fruits and veggies shipped in from places that experience their seasons opposite of ours. I've missed the experience that was designed by the Creator to be a taste of his seasons.Yes, I’ll continue to cook the traditional seasonal markers such as pumpkin pie and sweet potato pudding, but I’m interested to see the wonder return and the honor due the Lord as I taste things grown locally and seasonally in my home community.How do you taste the seasons?

In Him together, Susan Gaddis