Art and music, Harvest,

 

 

It is harvest time here, the fields are full of hay bales waiting to be moved, or big agricultural tractors and threshing machines cutting, baling and collecting the crop. We've had so much rain recently some of the crops are ruined and some of the fields still lie under 6 inches of water. When the fields need cutting there is no time to lose, when its time, it has to be done. Every field has activity in it and every road has heavy machinery travelling at a snails pace to the next field. I was out with my friend in the car last week and we passed the fields and got stuck behind a tractor.
It is a beautiful sight, fields of gold being cut and baled. White fluffy clouds in clear blue skys, and then suddenly the light will go and shadows roll over the fields as the clouds turn black and the wind rustles through the hedgerow. This same scene (minus the modern machinery) must have been a familiar sight in these parts for hundreds maybe thousands of years. As we crawled along behind the tractor a song from my childhood popped into my head. I’m not a particularly religious person, not a regular church goer and this song has no specific religious significance to me. But it does evoke vivid childhood memories of school harvest festivals where we collected food for the old peoples home and had enormous displays of cabbages, carrots, potatoes, turnips and fresh loaves of bread. The bread was ‘special’ in that it was baked into little woven shapes or rounded into ‘cob’ loaves. We also had tiny ‘corn dollies’ given to us and bunches of wheat were used to decorate the school stage. It is with these scenes in mind that I’ve chosen this song as my ‘poem’ for this week.


We Plough The Fields And Scatter Hymn
We plough the fields and scatter
The good seed on the land,
But it is fed and watered
By God's almighty hand:
He sends the snow in winter,
The warmth to swell the grain,
The breezes and the sunshine,
And soft, refreshing rain.

Refrain:
All good gifts around us
Are sent from heaven above;
Then thank the Lord,
O thank the Lord,
For all his love.
He only is the maker
Of all things near and far;
He paints the wayside flower,
He lights the evening star;
The winds and waves obey him,
By him the birds are fed;
Much more to us, his children,
He gives our daily bread.
Refrain:
All good gifts around us
Are sent from heaven above;
Then thank the Lord,
O thank the Lord,
For all his love.
We thank thee then, O Father,
For all things bright and good,
The seed time and the harvest,
Our life, our health, our food.
Accept the gifts we offer
For all thy love imparts,
And what thou most desirest,
Our humble, thankful hearts.
Refrain:
All good gifts around us
Are sent from heaven above;
Then thank the Lord,
O thank the Lord,
For all his love.

Words: Matthias Claudius, 1782
Jane M. Camp­bell translated them from German to English in 1861; her version first appeared in A Garland of Songs, by Charles S. Bere, 1862.

Music: Wir Pflügen, Johann A. P. Schulz, 1800 (Han­over, Germany 1800).

Paintings by Van Gogh

and to finish, a song in the same theme
Harvest by Neil Young

delete reply pestep55 wrote on Sep 10, '09 A joyful blend /:-)

delete reply lauritasita wrote on Sep 10, '09 Loretta, thank you so much for this beautiful and artistic multimedia presentation! Love, Laurita.

delete reply sanssouciblogs wrote on Sep 10, '09 Love it love it! The words, the graphics, Neil Young, the mood, the season, and YOU!

delete reply caffeinatedjo wrote on Sep 10, '09 I love the paintings, the song, and the video, Loretta. The word "harvest" has always sounded so hopeful to me.

delete reply djdx wrote on Sep 10, '09 I enjoyed the at work you have chosen to illustrate this theme. We are liable to get stuck behind a tractor most any time, but the combines are worse, they take up the whole road and need a warning vehicle in front so that one can park somewhere to let them by. I think most of the hay has been baled here, but some of the bales are still in the fields. The next job here seems to be chopping up the corn for silage but I don't think it is ready yet.

delete reply veryfrank wrote on Sep 10, '09 forgetmenot525 said we passed the fields and got stuck behind a tractor. Yes it is harvest time in most places. The tractors and balers are part and parcel to living across the road from a farm. I find Fall an interesting season, sort of bittersweet, lots of interesting and necessary things going on, lovely colors and all of that. Yet sort of a sad time, anticipating a long dark and cold winter.

delete reply starfishred wrote on Sep 10, '09 how lovely loretta