The time of the grain harvest

Lughnasad marks the beginning of the harvest season. The fruit and vegetables are ripening, and the grain has turned golden. It is usually an intensely busy and happy time, especially for gardeners. The efforts of the early part of the year are paying off. But not this year.

The growing period from spring to harvest is fraught with danger: Late frosts can kill sensitive starters, and summer storms can ruin the crop in just a few minutes. The harvest is by no means guaranteed. This year, Lugh has been fierce. The summer heat is so intense that it is causing terrible damage, scorched landscapes and draughts. We need the Sun’s warmth and light, without water, there is no life.

Lughnasad is called Lammas in the Christian tradition, which comes from the Anglo-Saxon ‘hlaf-mas’, meaning ‘loaf mass’. Bread and wine are the traditional sacraments of the Eucharist.

But harvesting the seed is only one of the stages of the perpetual cycle of life. Ideally, what we harvest at this time of the year should sustain us beyond our current needs and nourish us in the winter, when the Earth is barren and still. It must provide us with the seed necessary to start the cycle gain next year. We reap as we sow, but we also sow what we have reaped.

In the face of the unfolding climate catastrophe, we are grateful for what we can harvest today. But if we want to secure future harvests, we must change our practices.

We can no longer afford to ignore the changes that are taking place. We are facing an existential threat – unless we act now. The future potential for our species and life as we know it, lies in our hands.

The future starts now.