I love the autumn.  It’s a time of year that reminds me of nature’s principle of abundance.  The vegetables I have tended through the summer are producing in plenty.  I am keeping a close eye on my courgettes.  I have given any number away.  I have embarked on the usual search for ideas (just how many ways can you eat a courgette?).  My tomatoes are also finally ripening.  But not only those things I have tended.  The pears are falling from my old pear tree right now.  The hedgerows are laden with blackberries.

It’s easy to lose sight of this natural principle in our times of austerity, which makes it all the more pleasing when I notice those things that are still abundantly available.  Yes, courgettes are abundantly available right now – at least in my garden.  But also human fellowship is easily available, if only we can reach out and receive it.  The potential is there – for fellowship amongst those who are struggling to find work or who look at the last five years and ask themselves, “what have I achieved in the last five years?” or wonder “how can I give more fully of my gifts – how can I make a difference?”

One of the things I have learnt in recent years is just how much gardening reveals this natural fellowship amongst human beings.  Spare plants are given away at the beginning of the season.  Tips are shared.  There is a natural empathy for the joys and trials of gardening.  And on my recent trip to Oxon Hoath, there was a sharing of a recipe for a courgette cake that is more than, in the words of my friend Jane, “worthy”.  In case you, too, have a glut of courgettes in your garden, I share it with you – in time for the weekend.