Saving Seeds

As fall approaches, it is evident that all things have preservation on their minds.  My cosmos flowers are producing mature seeds within the drying remains of the last of their blooms.  These flowers have produced an abundance of blossoms from the packet of seeds I procured at Butchart Gardens.  Now my goal is to claim enough seeds to repeat the pleasure of their presence again next year in my garden.

I collected the dried flowers with their pods of fat black seeds, and then gently persuaded the pods to release their bounty.  The remainder went to the back yard for my mother squirrel to peruse.  She too is bent on preservation, with evidence of the feeding of her young visible in two rows of nipples along her light gray belly.  She is thin from the effort and the dry, hot summer we are experiencing.

Whenever I connect with this world around my home, the pleasure it brings is immeasurable.  And for me, this is preservation.