Persimmon Moon Mandalas

September 26th, 2016

Although it’s a few days past, I want to rename the Harvest Moon, the Persimmon Moon.

The glorious old native persimmon (Diospyros virginiana)  in my back yard showers us with ripe sweet fruit in September and October. The sweetness falls from the tree and must be picked up and eaten or frozen before the day is over.

On a day near the full Harvest Moon, I created a persimmon mandala to honor the time of year and the time of sweet harvest.

I picked up the ripe-that-day persimmons and arranged them in an honoring circle, an honoring mandala.

The persimmons land on the ground, in their ripe sweetness.  My persimmon tree fruit ripens earlier than most in the Midwest.  On most trees,  the sweet fruit stays on the tree. Fortunately our tree gifts us with its flavor as it falls to the ground.

The sweet pulp must be eaten that day.  Each fruit has many seeds.  It’s best to suck off the pulp and enjoy the pulp.

Persimmon trees have a deeply grooved trunk and bark. All persimmon trees, native to the Americas, or Asian have the same bark.

The fruit is a peach color when ripe and when it first falls.

The pulp can be scrapped off the seeds with a wooden spoon and wire sieve. It can be used as a sauce with chocolate ice cream, or a the base of  baked sweets.  Whenever I eat persimmon I now think of Persimmon Moon and the sweetness of this time of year.

Enjoy & Create

LINDA

PS – More shared mandalas and Kanuga Creating Sacred Space – Planting Prayers art work in the next blogs.