Small Harvests
Field Notes - Issue #05
September 16, 2026
Welcome to the field!
Today, I read an email from Angell Deer, one of my favorite authors on Substack (you can learn more about him and his work here).
The upshot of the email was to ask that I consider what is being undernourished in my life. Not what else new needed to be built or started, not what needed to be purged or removed. Just what work had I already begun that was starving or thirsting for attention.
As a gardener who has been through a very dry summer, at a time when I have been busy with caretaking and neglectful of plants in need of attention, this email stopped me short.
I've been struggling with how to build a sustainable work life in this season of caregiving for many people, including myself. I have removed some commitments that were no longer sustainable, and I have brought new energy to some things I have wanted to prioritize for years. (It turns out those commitments are more sustainable for me in this season of life.)
But the work is never done, because life is always changing. That's why I take time every year to acknowledge what serves me, and what does not. As fall approaches, I am attending to it again.
As I look at my garden and my annual review of the year, I can see that I have right-sized a lot. But I have also been neglecting some things that need my attention. My yoga practice needs rejuvenating. My garden is producing things that I can preserve in small ways, without a lot of work — but it's needed more attentive watering, feeding and cleaning up. I'm working on that now.
But the biggest need is to continue to nurture and nourish the idea I started the year with. My word of the year is "Enough." It's about remembering that:
- I am enough
- There is enough
- It is enough
Not my traditional way of thinking, and certainly not the way I was trained and acculturated to look at my life. But I've been working with these concepts all year, and they are meaningful touchstones as I make my way through the challenges life brings. And they help me live the truth behind my belief in identifying what matters most to me — and living my life accordingly.
What that actually means to me in this moment is focusing less on what needs to be purged (and certainly less of what needs to be built) in favor of what needs attention and kindness to continue. That seems to be what fall is about, and it's what I needed my attention pointed toward today. Thank you, Angell, for the nudge.
My garden had a harder year than usual, and it is still contributing its own kind of nourishment. I'm embracing the term "small harvests." I'll share my favorite from this year.
We had an abundance of figs this year in the garden, and while we ate most of them fresh from the harvest, I did manage to put three jars of Fig Chutney together. I had never done this, and I was lucky to find a recipe from my friend Justine (recipe available here; thank you, Justine!).
I look forward to enjoying the results on a wonderful crusty bread with some good cheese. That will be in another season, sometime when the warmth and laziness of summer gives way to the hearth and the dark of winter.
Here is this year's batch.
Small harvests. Nourishment. Enough.
I'm curious if you have any fall rituals or learnings that are helping you appreciate your own harvest. Drop me a note in response — I read all of them.
Wishing you a bountiful season.
Sharon
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