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Harvest

8th September 2021: WMC
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From the Manse.....

This has been the first full year on our allotment and it has to be said that it's been an interesting one to say the least. Whilst our shallots, beetroot, sweetcorn and courgettes have done well, other crops have suffered in one way or another and have struggled. A combination of blight, slugs, deer and critters that have nibbled their way through some of our produce along with poor weather have all contributed in one way or another to the difficulties.

There have been some very disheartened folk looking after their plots. For us, it may be disappointing, it may feel a waste of time, hard work and effort, it might make you ask why bother – but we are fortunate that it is never a matter of life and death.

If our tomatoes are blighted, we can go to the supermarket. If the deer have eaten the runner bean shoots, we can go to the market stall. If our courgettes have been attacked by vermin, we can go to the greengrocers.

Not so for so many of the world's poorest farmers and those who work their small patch of land. If the rains do not come, if there is disease, if the crops fail, then there is no fall back and the fragility of life is real and the young and vulnerable face starvation.

This time of year reminds us that harvest has and always will be about giving thanks for what we have and not taking it for granted; no doubt the change in global weather patterns will throw that into even sharper focus in the years that are to come.

Harvest is also and more importantly about sharing what we have with those who have so little and intentionally working towards a fairer and more just world.

Each year, All We Can remind us of the two sides of the harvest coin – giving thanks and social action to bring about change and transformation. This Judaeo-Christian imperative is clearly spelt out in the book of Leviticus (23:22) "When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very edges of your field, or gather the gleanings of your harvest; you shall leave them for the poor and for the alien: I am the Lord your God"

The work of All We Can enables real change and transformation to take place in the lives of individuals and their communities even in the most trying and desperate of circumstances. Difficulties that have been exacerbated and compounded by the impact of Covid and the recent Government cuts to the overseas aid budget – yet their work continues and is able to bring hope and life to so many.

Thank you for your support and generosity to All We Can and other relief agencies, not only this Harvest time, but throughout the year.

With love and God Bless

Keith

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