Divine Provision: Selections From “Tablets” by Amos Bronson Alcott (vegan), Part 2 of 2

Let us continue reading “The Tablets” by Amos Bronson Alcott (vegan), which remind us of God’s plentiful provision in fruit trees, plants, and crops. As we tend the fields, joy fills our hearts, and through cultivating food crops, we form a deeper connection with nature, nourishing our souls.

“Orchards are even more personal in their charms than gardens, as they are more nearly human creations. Ornaments of the homestead, they subordinate other features of it; and such is their sway over the landscape that house and owner appear accidents without them. So men delight to build in an ancient orchard, when so fortunate as to possess one, that they may live in the beauty of its surroundings.

Orchards are among the most coveted possessions; trees of ancient standing, and vines, being firm friends and royal neighbors forever. The profits, too, are as wonderful as their longevity. And if antiquity can add any worth to a thing, what possession has a man more noble than these? so unlike most others, which are best at first and grow worse till worth nothing; while fruit-trees and vines increase in worth and goodness for ages.

An orchard in bloom is one of the most pleasing sights the eye beholds; as if the firmament had stooped to the tree-tops and touched every twig with spangles, and man had mingled his essence with the seasons, in its flushing tokens. […]”

“Kindly conceive me friendliest of peers, And glad my brows adorn with yellow ears; The wide-spread field, its sheafed hoard, The lively symbol of their liberal Lord, Whose plenteous crop, and ripe supply Areapéd [reaped] is of every hand and eye— An opulent shock for poor humanity. […]

Biography shows that fruit has been the preferred food of the most illuminated persons of past times, and of many of the ablest. It is friendly to the human constitution, and has been made classic by the pens of poets who have celebrated its beauty and excellence.”