Nature & Seasons - grace grits and gardening

Fall is…

October 17, 2012 By Talya Tate Boerner

This post is Day 3 of the BLOGtober Fest challenge with Arkansas Women Bloggers. Theme is Fall Traditions…

Easy peasy…

In our family, we have several fall traditions, but my favorites are …

That first eye-rolling-back-in-my-head bite of corn dog from the state fair, hot from the grease and dripping with mustard. A trip to the state fair is always on the agenda.

That first weekend of college football which pairs perfectly with the season’s first bowl of chili. (My husband makes amazing chili…) A house divided, we claim many teams cheering for Arkansas and Arkansas State (always), other SECteams when it benefits Arkansas, and Texas when they play Oklahoma. We almost support LSU when they play Florida. Florida, never. Although it rarely happens since the fall of the Southwest Conference, if Baylor should play Arkansas, I cheer for whichever team has the ball. Yes, I graduated from Baylor and LOVE the Hogs… Conflicted.

My handsome Razorback

Cotton Harvest! The holiest of times. The fields are transformed into a sea of white, thick enough to walk on. My favorite smell, the smell of cotton.

can you smell it?

talya

Musical Pairings:

Arkansas Fight Song

Hello Autumn!

October 15, 2012 By Talya Tate Boerner

Autumn is the time we begin to wind down the year, rebalancing our bodies and minds as the days begin to shorten and cool. We breathe a sigh of relief at having survived another hot southern summer.

Into storage go those summer decorations, the bowl of seashells collected during annual treks to Destin, the sunflower door wreath. Into the back of the closet go the white linen pants and summer sundresses. Bring on cowboy boots and sweater weather!

Thoughts turn to family and football, chili and pumpkin spice lattes. Fall is a time for thanksgiving.

Surprise lilies bloom where none stood the night before. The air is filled with defoliant and the smell of cotton.

I wait for the Great Pumpkin.

The roadsides and ditch banks around our farm are tangled with tiny wild flowers and colorful foliage perfect for gathering into fall decorations. What better way to honor nature’s blessings than with vegetation growing wild near the fields? These fields which provide for us all spring…every spring, year after year.

ditchbank decor

Our rice field is peaceful now, resting, and nearly bare after harvest. The remaining dry stalks, interesting only to dove and duck, are in sharp contrast to the brilliant colors along the turn row and ditches. Cockleburs hang in clumps on scarlet stems. Peeking through the weeds, purple morning glories creep along the dark soil like ground cover. Silvery Johnson grass waves in the breeze. Growing wild, pink spiky flowers are unfamiliar to me, similar to salvia.

decorating with Autumn’s offerings

You can easily transform your home at no cost with only a pair of scissors. A rusty bucket or tarnished silver bowl provides the ideal container. Any found object will do.

As poet Ella Wheeler Wilcox observed, a weed is but an unloved flower.

The beauty is all around.

decorate with cotton and wildflowers

Grace Grits and Gardening

Farm. Food. Garden. Life.

This post is Day 1 of the BLOGtober Fest at Arkansas Women Bloggers…

Let heaven and nature sing!

September 26, 2012 By Talya Tate Boerner

Momma

The sky reflects a brilliant sea of white, the blanket of white mirrors the fleecy clouds above. An outline of bright blue sky illuminates the land. A globe of white, the heaven and earth indistinguishable, saturated with the aroma of cotton. White gold hanging on stalks ripe for picking.

My mother gives final instruction to her accommodating farmers.

In ten days, if the weather holds out and you observe carefully, you might glimpse a farmer smiling.

All year they toil for this moment.

Christmas in Autumn. Let heaven and nature sing….

talya

Musical Pairing:

Joy to the World, Three Dog Night