Memories of 2008

Over the past couple of weeks, heavy frosts have brought the 2008 gardening season in Northern Indiana to an end. There is something about those first killing frosts that is almost magical. You know the feeling the night before...crystal clear sky, a deep chill in the air, the scramble to bring squash, blush-colored tomatoes, and crispy peppers under cover. Sunlight bathes the hoarfrosted landscape as a gorgeous autumn day breaks. You run to the vegetable garden to see how much damage was done. Prepared for the worst, you see that the garden you had tended and loved all season is covered with a crystaline cover that turns the bright green foliage a dark green.

Unless you were diligent and covered your crops, jury-rigging all kinds of tarps and blankets for maximum coverage, you catch your heart before it sinks in sadness. The natural cycle of nature has claimed your plants, but a new season is begun. Weeks of work lie ahead to clean everything up, but one of a gardener's greatest joys lies ahead...the merciful, much-needed rest when the land sleeps in late fall and winter. Relief quickly follows shock and a tear for the end of a lush garden. It is one of God's ways of closing a curtain and preparing for a new scene.

Gone but not forgotten are the flowers and fruits of a season in the sun. But the memories go on. Here are some of the beautiful scenes, the memories that lift our hearts and make us keep coming back to the soil every spring.