A favorite flower, clover, mentioned in the Qur'an

Surah 80: 26-32

Then We cleave the earth, cleaving (it) asunder,
Then We cause to grow therein the grain,
And grapes and clover,
And the olive and the palm,
And thick gardens,
And fruits and herbage,
A provision for you and your cattle.


***
Is it not a wonder that the humble clover is mentioned as one of the illustrious gifts by God? Everyone thinks of the value of grapes, of the olive, and the palm, but there is the clover, singled out for glorious mention at God's lips in the Qur'an. Why is that? Well, God explains a few lines later, where he demonstrates that his gifts are for both human sustenance and their cattle.

Everyone who knows anything about cattle knows that cows love clover. They eagerly seek it out and eat it. Clover has a small red and white round flower, which is small, usually a half inch in diameter. Here is a close up picture.

http://www.nps.gov/wica/naturescience/wildflowers-red-clover.htm

When I was a child I lived in a rural area, and so we children grew up knowing that the clover flower tastes sweet and how to eat them when one is on a trek through the meadows and woods.

As you can see the clover is hundreds of tiny elongated petals, where one half is red or purple and the other half, which attaches to the stalk, shades to white. If you pull a bunch of the petals and bite off the bottom half, the white half, it is full of sugar and very sweet to eat. I would often eat several of them as a youngster, and to this day think of it when I see some nice ones (although we do not live in such clean times these days, so I would not recommend it! Too many dog walkers and so forth.) But I thought I would share this little farm knowledge from my childhood.

The sugar refinery tragedy

I'm sure everyone who follows the news knows about the terrible explosion at the Imperial Sugar refinery near Savannah, Georgia. Prayers are needed for the families and for the victims, many who are still hospitalized in critical condition. http://savannahnow.com/node/453466 Two have recently gone to the Lord from their injuries. Burns are terrible injuries. They are the hardest to recover from and because they destroy so much they are the ones most resistent to even miraculous grace, but do pray for the survivors that they can resist threats like infection and for their bodies' endurance.

Imperial Sugar is also marketed under the Dixie Crystals name. Up north I mostly saw Domino Sugar and it's a fine product. But once I heard of this explosion I went to the store to look and see what they had, and the Jerry Lee near my apartment carries Dixie Crystals. (I've not bought sugar since I moved here because I've not been doing any baking). I bought a table dispenser of Dixie Crystals Premium Pure Cane Sugar as a gesture of solidarity while the company gets back on its feet from this loss. I don't mean economically they are in danger, as this was just one of their locations and they have capacity, but I mean emotionally, where the company and the community have suffered so greatly. The company has said that they will rebuild a state of the art facility and I think that is correct and wonderful. So I bought one of their sugar dispensers as my personal gesture of solidarity. I had to think of something to use it on so I bought some Louisiana strawberries and sprinkle the sugar on them! Anyway, I thought I'd share this so that some of you who might feel helpless when you read about something like this might share my idea of grabbing one of their products as a gesture of support. All the best to everyone who has suffered through this, and hats off to the heroes, survivors and rebuilders who will not let this focal point of the community vanish into the disaster.

When I moved down here it was sugar cane harvest time in Louisiana. I took some pictures of the trucks and the cane processing plant. I even collected some canes that blew off the truck, using them in my flower arranging (a bit too perishable for what I'd hoped they'd be). But I found sugar cane scented candles at Walmart and LOVE them.