Thanks for the Harvest in Newfoundland

Emaad Alktifan, left, and Nezar Khalif at the start of this season at Murray Meadows Farm. 
(Gavin Simms/CBC)

Give thanks, my soul, for harvest,
for store of fruit and grain;
but know the owner gives so
that we may share again.
Where people suffer hunger,
or little children cry,
with gifts from God's rich bounty
may thankfulness reply.

Voices United 522

There was a nice article this week on the CBC Newfoundland website about these two new Canadians, Syrian immigrants in 2015. Through a government initiative they have partnered with a local farmer to grow crops which are common in Syria but unusual in Canada. Despite the misgivings on the part of the host farmer, Brian Kowalski says the "the farm has never been more productive as it has been this year" and the produce sold out every week at the farmers' market. They will expand planting of the Middle Eastern vegetables next year

Kowalski was impressed by the teenagers of the one family who were involved in the tending and harvesting of the crops. They were hard-working and happy. 

We urbanites can forget that in earlier generations Christians celebrated Thanksgiving as a a harvest festival, with examples of the "ingathering" decorating church sanctuaries. The roots (root veggies?) for this celebration are found in Judaism, and it happens that today is the beginning of Sukkot, or the harvest festival. 

Whatever our background, we can give thanks to the God of Creation, of growth and harvest and abundance. As host Kowalski aptly commented:

"It's been such an amazing year … speaking of Thanksgiving, I can't be more thankful for the amount of work that the kids did this year."