Returning

A seasonal reflection by Mia South, 2025 apprentice at Terra Alta

In my five months here at Terra Alta I have been a part of so much change in the garden. It has been a very fulfilling experience of watching seeds germinate and blossomed into delicious fruit which I have then harvested and shared with the community. Drawing on inspiration from the book ‘A Wilder Way’ by Poppy Okotcha I have been writing and reflecting on the relationship of giving and receiving that I have developed with the garden. 

This is a poem that I wrote a couple of weeks ago to express my gratitude but also lessons that living and working with the land has taught me.

Returning 

Our summer brew is now dark and rich.

Infused by maturing fruits,

who have spent these past months growing and surfacing.

Red squash curve out of vines,

zucchinis snake across soil,

tomatoes climb and swell.

She, the garden, no longer needs to hold my hand.

She stands on her own feet.

They have grown stable by thick roots.

She reaches up and up

Toward our shared sun.

I am asked to sit back and take rest.

I find this difficult at first.

Difficult to not reach for those wavering stems

or pick at the weeds that surround her.

But now I am grateful. 

Grateful for this lesson of rest.

As without rest,

we and our gardens cannot sustain ourselves.

The act of composting embodies this. 

We lay riches of collapsed leaves, aged veg and fallen debris,

and create bedding for new life to entangle and fold into. 

Decay is what sustains and feeds future growth.

In Autumn, life is returned and tucked back into the earth.

I lay down into this season of abundance, of soft ripeness and warm light.

Like the falling seeds, I let the soil swallow me

Pole beans drying at the farm hub in August. Photo by Anjou Vartman.