grace grits and gardening

ramblings from an arkansas farm girl

Nature’s Symphony

By

dove
The field rests, preparing for winter. The temperature is thirty degrees cooler than before.

As I walk the perimeter, unsuspecting critters are surprised by my return. They have received no visitors since the combines moved out. Hidden, life waits for me to pass, then plops or jumps or slithers behind me just out of sight. 

I surprise a hawk on the ditch bank, and he surprises me. He swoops along the water, choosing a new spot to roost. The beaver dam has grown larger with sticks and brush woven tightly, a bridge to the other side. A brown grasshopper follows me, jumping at my feet, keeping pace and hitching a ride on my shirt for a few yards. Hello little fellow! He doesn’t answer back.
I visit my favorite spot, adding to the hidden treasures in my rusty hubcab – another shotgun shell casing, a feather, a piece of broken green glass, a shiny silver key. A bright pink candy wrapper half buried in the field proves a curious find…. Aren’t farmers and strawberry Laffy Taffy mutually exclusive?
The morning sounds are richly layered like an impressive symphony orchestra, well rehearsed and perfectly timed. Nearest to me, crickets chirp a steady melody, almost a recognizable tune. The occasional plop of a turtle into water adds deep bass sounds. Overhead, dove trill and whistle.  Nature’s high notes. Harmony surrounds me in the rustle of turning leaves. East across the fields, traffic hums on the interstate as trucks haul beans to the river, autumn’s final crescendo.

talya

Musical Pairing:

October, U2

For Taylor

By

Taylor Sandquist, my beautiful, twelve-year-old niece, wrote the following poem for her English class. 

Where Poetry Hides

In my fat, black and white cat’s crazy, teeny tiny
brain.
In the small #1 cabin on a lake in Arkansas.
In a nice, pretty resort in San Diego.
In my strange brother’s mind, who acts like a
crazy monkey.
In my pink Dell laptop.
In my nonie’s old, torn-up house.
In my dad’s clean, neat house.
In my oval/heart-shaped pool.
In the twisty, hilly and dirty campground of
Wyoming.
In the old basement of my other grandparents’
house.
Taylor Sandquist
Musical Pairing:
Taylor and Talya at the BAT cave.
Sammie

Let heaven and nature sing!

By

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

The BAT picking her own cotton.

Food. Farm. Garden. Life.

THANKS FOR READING!