For the Beauty of the Earth

Walk in the Farmer’s Market any day this summer and you’ll see colour everywhere. Green, red, yellow, orange and even purple. Walk up and down the outdoor aisles and be tempted to try many fruits and vegetables, maple syrup and honey. I love going to the market in summer and it’s where I get my produce for canning.

Favourite market place, so many vendors to choose from

Already I have jars marked 2018 dill pickles and pickled beets on the shelf in my cold room. I still have some jars from last year’s canning, 2017—applesauce, grape jelly, fruit relish and a limited number of dill pickles. We’ll use those first and then open the new jars afterwards.

Mom always taught us that getting the produce as it’s ready and handling it right away guarantees the best crop for eating while it’s in season and for preserving. It makes for a busy season when so many offerings are available at one time, but that’s the way the growing season works. She stayed up late many nights while we were small children, to get the processing done probably more efficiently and more easily. It’s a task where you don’t need interruptions.  Then as we were old enough, we learned the tasks to help mom—podding peas, snibbling beans, shucking corn cobs, peeling apples and more.

 

My cold room shelf, a mix of 2017 and 2018 preserves

Eventually we learned the process so that one day we could do it ourselves in our own kitchen. And now I can supply Mom with some of those preserves since she doesn’t have a garden and doesn’t can anymore. However, I only make those products that I know our family will help us consume. We don't want anything to go to waste.

The beauty of the earth goes beyond the produce growing in season and encompasses all of creation, to the skies, the trees, waterfalls, rainbows and scenes in nature.

 We sang the hymn, For the Beauty of the Earth, in church when I was growing up. Folliott Sandford Pierpoint, the composer, wrote of creation as a whole:

1 For the beauty of the earth,
for the glory of the skies,
for the love which from our birth
over and around us lies.

Refrain

Christ, our Lord, to you we raise
this, our hymn of grateful praise.

According to hymnary.org, Pierpoint “was born at Spa Villa, Bath, October 7, 1835, and educated at Queen's College, Cambridge, graduating in classical honours in 1871.” He wrote of the same earth we know, but in a different time and location. Other composers and hymn arrangers, such as John Rutter, have arranged new compositions from this initial hymn that shows up in more than 500 hymnals.

 Pierpoint’s song is in the public domain and has been for more than a century. We may expect to see other musicians present different versions. Having sung in church and community choirs, I am familiar and rather fond of Rutter’s artistic arrangements of hymns. Whatever you sing of God’s praise, whether an original composition or new arrangement, sing joyfully. For in singing, we pray twice.

This Beautiful Earth—Carolyn R. Wilker

At this time of year, when the garden is growing and flowers around my yard are blooming, it’s easy to appreciate beauty.  I take photos at various times in the season when one kind of plant succeeds another. And seeing other gardens and natural areas to adds to the enjoyment of creation.  

Folliot Sandford Pierpoint might have been a gardener too, or at least an appreciator of nature for he wrote extensively about it.

Pierpoint, born in 1835 in Bath, was both a well-educated man and prolific in song writing, particularly for the church. He wrote the hymn, “For the Beauty of the Earth,” in 1869 (melody by Conrad Kocher). Only one of the many hymns he wrote, this one has appeared in as many as 483 hymnbooks.

1 For the beauty of the earth,
for the glory of the skies,
for the love which from our birth
over and around us lies.

While the refrain has changed over time, the essence of the verses offer praise to God for his creation, but also for his gifts to us, including Jesus’ sacrifice.

Yet it seems that not all appreciate the earth or feel the need to care for it. I feel sad when I walk through an otherwise beautiful park and see garbage lying around, cigarette butts ground out or just tossed on the walkways, as well as fast food packaging seemingly dropped in place. Sometimes public garbage cans are so overfilled during a big event that workers cannot keep up with it, and then a strong breeze lifts some of the items out of the trash can and spreads it around. We cannot blame the wind; it was meant to blow and cool us. But wait…

Maybe you hear a lecture coming on about taking the garbage home or  making sure you’re not overfilling a can. No, not exactly, but there would be nothing wrong with doing either.

Then again, what is all in that can? 

What can you do to be a good caretaker? Many people are already concerned and acting, yet a refresher is often a good thing. This list presents a small number of the things you (and I) can do:

·         Follow guidelines on recycle programs and reduce garbage at the curb each week

·         Purchase only what you need, and whenever possible, with the least amount of packaging.

·         Make reusable lunch bags and water bottles a priority whenever possible

·         Put garbage in a can provided or take it with you to dispose of later

·         Dispose of paints and other potentially harmful substances at appropriate sites

·         Be mindful of waterways and refrain from dumping garbage there; fish and water creatures need clean water too.

For car owners

·         Car pool when possible

·         Keep car well-tuned so it runs more efficiently

·          Limit idling time

There’s so much beauty and goodness, and we must be mindful of the earth. We’ve been put here to look after it. (Genesis 2:15) We are the earth’s keepers and we can do our part to keep it beautiful. Let’s echo the hymn writer who speaks of “the beauty of the earth and glory of the skies.”

 

Carolyn Wilker is an author, editor and storyteller from Ontario, Canada. 
www.carolynwilker.ca