Harvest Tables

Now having connections to two rural chapels, I duly attended two harvest services. Contrary to expectations, harvest festivals are a Victorian fancy even though we might imagine virtuous medieval peasants doing the same thing. I noticed that Hetton Chapel’s harvest offerings were not only on bales of hay but included much more fresh produce; Salem Chapel’s, on account of it all being destined for the foodbank at Clitheroe, was largely tinned and packeted. The fresher stuff looked better, but would have needed using up sharpish.

Fresh food has not the life span of the frozen or the tinned, but it is probably better for us and is generally cheaper to buy. Yet we cannot entirely live off fresh food; even our medieval forbears stewed apples for longevity and salted meat as a preservative. Spiritually speaking, attending church or Bible Study is like eating fresh fruit and veg: it is topical, immediate and refreshens the spirit. On the other hand, reading books, especially Christian classics, is akin to eating tinned foods, which may be older, well preserved and covered in rich sources. It is good to enjoy both, just as Hetton’s and Salem’s harvest tables groaned under the weight of different types of food -which was all eaten in the end.