Every gardener in Washburn is scrambling right now to cover their beloved crops with sheets and blankets. The first frost of the year has been determined for tonight and tomorrow night.

It’s rainy and misty- the warm ground exhaling against the cold air- and I would’ve much rather been inside reading a book under a quilt. But that was not an option. Sarah and Bob {the folks renting our cottage} and I pulled on our muck boots and raincoats and headed out to the garden to harvest everything and anything that might be killed tonight.

We were greeted by the towering sunflower that Sarah planted next to the squash bed months ago. It’s just now flowering- just as the days get shorter and colder, this magnificently cheerful flower opens its fiery petals in a heartwarming and nostalgic salute to the real sun. It’s almost as if it knows we need some cheering up right about now.

I know some sunflowery-folks. They lay low and don’t ask for much, and then BAM! They’re right there when you need them, with their contagious optimism.

Our cold, pink fingers worked quickly, and our boxes and baskets filled with a rainbow of goodies.

It was sad to do the last tomato harvest without Mike, who is away on a business trip. He tenderly nurtured these tomatoes from seedling-hood. He remembered to water them. He rotated their flats next to the window regularly so there was equal-opportunity sunshine exposure.

All summer long we ate from these tomato vines. They pumped out tomato after tomato after tomato- we could barely keep up.

And now, the vines are mostly all brown, withering and shrinking back in the cool air, lifting up their neon colored fruit with the last of their energy. Each juicy orb filled with all of the life the plant has left; It gives it all to the fruit and keeps nothing for itself.

I know a few tomato-plant-characters in the human world.

And the squash. Hard and knobby on the outside. Flesh-like and quietly sweet on the inside. A nice surprise for those with a strong enough arm to cut through the shell. I wonder what intrigued the very first squash-eater to find out what was inside this bumpy ogre-of-a-veggie.

I know a few squashy-people.

I’m overwhelmed by what the earth has given us this year. Us! Total beginners in the world of growing food. It’s like the ground saw us trying really hard, took pity on us, and decided to give us its very best- despite all our mistakes, not keeping up with weeding nearly enough, and our general lack of know-how.

How can you hold one of these beautiful gifts in your hands and not be pierced with the meaning of it? Our bodies receive nutrients and energy from these vegetables, and our hearts swell with a new understanding of the words sacrificial love.