Jonathan: Becky – our eldest daughter – is 3[-] today.  She’s a lovely girl. A highlight of her birthday, she tells me, was the annual Aberystwyth Food and Drink Festival (sounds good to me!) on the streets of her home town.  She told me of a young woman selling ‘food from the wild’, such as samphire cakes, crab apple jelly and the such-like.

I can’t tell you how proud I feel to know that Becky values – is excited by – such things.: for not only does it say something powerful about her values, it also it says these values can be passed on two generations from mother to son, father to daughter, even though Denise and I have been conscientious in leaving Becky to find her own way in life, discover or forge her own values.

This is not merely about what interests one – it is far more profound! It is about recognizing and rejoicing in the wonders of our planet, and the fruits of the earth which are there to feed us and supply our every need, both physical and spiritual. Autumn fruits are not just about food, but about receiving and giving, sorrow and sadness, death and re-birth.