I happened to pick up Henry Thoreau’s journal from 1854, and read this passage from August 7, 1854:

Do you not feel the fruit of your spring and summer beginning to ripen, to harden its seed within you– Do not your thoughts begin to acquire consistency as well as flavor and ripeness– How can we expect a harvest of thought who have not had a seed time of character?

Something to consider for this week just past Lughnasa, when we are poised in expectation, the first fruits of the harvest beginning to pour in, but we don’t yet know how bountiful the harvest will be.