Poor Clare Fall Garden Update

Autumn comes slowly to our neck of Virginia, so while some areas in the north or the mountainous west are ablaze with end of season color, we are careful to note our individual trees beginning to show off their red, orange and yellow foliage.  Southern flying birds come here for the winter (it took this Connecticut Yankee a long while to figure this out!), so flocks of Canadian geese, and black birds are often seen and heard in our skies.

Pak Choi in the foreground
Kale and swiss chard in the back
Shrine of Our Lady in the background 

Temperatures remain for the most part above 50 degrees, creating good conditions for extended vegetable gardening.  We have a second planting of green beans, and beets, plus a new planting of Pak Choi, while the Swiss chard, kale and eggplant are still going strong.  Of course, the tomatoes and asparagus have definitely seen better days.  Yesterday I planted clover in the open spaces to act as a winter cover crop.

Inside the monastery we have our sites set on the celebration of All Saints and the beginning of our monastic Advent.  As the garden slowly dies to prepare the way for winter and then for spring, our thoughts turn to the last things and beyond them to eternity, “life on high with Christ Jesus our Lord.”