Harvest Maidens

When the Autumn comes rolling in, I love changing our seasons table to honor all of the abundant fruits and vegetables, and the fiery leaves outside. Seasons table figures are an idea I got from Waldorf classroom seasons tables, and I have loved making many Lady Springs, Queen Winters, and Harvest Maidens over the past few years (I still haven't made one for summer, likely because we're out camping so much). This Acorn Maiden, Wheat Maiden, and Harvest Maiden represent all that I love about this season. Harvesting food is such a sacred, sustaining activity and a good, honest days work. There is a fullness and abundance in the earth right now, everywhere you look. Autumn deserves some honoring.

This is the Harvest Maiden I needlefelted for our family's seasons table. She stands in our living room on bright orange and rich brown silks, surrounded by painted corn, jars of red vine maple branches, acorns and wheat.

This is the Acorn Maiden. Here is the Willamette Valley, we are blessed with an abundance of oak trees with big fat acorns. I gather them with my children every year, and we turn them into acorn meal for pancakes and muffins. They taste a little like maple syrup. Mmmmmmm.

This Wheat Maiden makes me think of the vast, rippling fields of ripe wheat in Washington State's Palouse region where I went to college. In the late summer, all you can see for miles and miles are these golden waves moving in the breeze. I always try to snag a few stalks for my seasons table when I'm driving through that area. This year I was lucky to have some spring up in my straw sheet mulch!

Happy Harvesting to All!