Eastlife Autumn 2019

Mum’s
The
Word
LITTLE EAST
Written by Dolly Osborne | www.raggydollywrites.wordpress.com
“Harvest time when the grass is jewelled
and the silk inside a chestnut shell…”
I love Autumn, it’s easily the best season. Pumpkin spice, the
return of knitwear, open fires, Halloween and singing about fluffy
cauliflowers, it’s warm, snuggly and just fabulous. Autumn also
houses a celebration of the harvest which is one of my favourite
times to reflect on what I have and think about how I can give
more to those who are less well-off and now I’m a parent I use this
as a regular teaching point for my children.
Harvest Festival was a big deal when I was a kid. I grew up in
Lincolnshire so I think the abundance of the harvest was seen
in action all around me. The combine harvesters whirring in the
fields, the fridges and freezers of the entire extended family filling
with blackberries and rhubarb, the jars of jams and chutneys and
pickled things that got prepared each year, all playing out Harvest
Festival before my eyes with a carnival of colours and flavours.
My CofE school went big on Harvest Festival too, the stage in the
school hall slowly filling with tins and packets in the weeks leading
up to the big event; the sharing of the harvest.
The donations would get packed up into boxes and we would all
walk down to a local sheltered housing estate where we would
knock on the doors of the elderly residents and give them the
fruits of our collection. It is one of the most vivid memories of my
childhood, the rush of joy I got from that simple act of giving,
the smiles of the recipients, and the warm, snuggly feeling of
gratitude and sharing.
With food bank use at an all-time high and media reports of
children going to school hungry I feel like the message of
Harvest Festival is more important than ever. It’s a time of year
where we can teach our children about the food they may
be taking for granted, a time where we can introduce them to
charitable giving as a normal, day to day thing to do and use it as
a time to look at the community around them.
I had a (thankfully very short) period of my life when I wondered
how I would feed myself and my child and I remember every
single bit of help and kindness that was offered to me in that
period. I am forever grateful for the comfortable circumstances I
now live in and will never forget to pay that forward when I can.
“...so I’ll never forget, no I’ll never forget, to
say a great big thank you, I’ll never forget.”
Follow Dolly on Twitter @Osborneosaurus
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