Thursday, October 8, 2009
The Harvest
I am amazed by the goodness the earth can bring forth with a minimal amount of TLC each year. We are enjoying the plethera of potatoes we dug up in August. I chose to grow small, fancy varieties this year. After all, I reasoned to myself, standing in front of a dozen bins of exotic potatoes at my local seed/garden store, russets are cheap and found year-round in the grocery store! But how often will I be able to find (much less afford) a potato called a "french fingerling"? Besides, the little guys don't take as long to grow, which means they don't use as much water as other potatoes might, and with a low-producing well, I'm always looking for ways to save on water! So we continue to enjoy our harvest of funny-shaped, funny-colored potatoes. I sent Liz to the basement to get some spuds for mashed potatoes the other night...she inadvertently brought up purple-fleshed potatoes, which, it turns out, make great mashed potatoes and really liven up a plate with their color!
Then there are the tomatoes...oh my goodness...lots and lots of tomatoes! I don't know how many pounds of tomatoes I processed this year, but it was plenty! I boiled them, dipped them in ice-water, peeled them and then cooked pot after pot of spaghetti/marinara/pizza sauce! What we didn't use right away, I froze for this winter. Liz made small pouches from the food-saver bags and filled them with pizza sauce to use later for emergency snacks,like after-school, english-muffin pizzas.
Speaking of the sauces, they are delicious, but would be nothing if it weren't for the herbs that came out of the garden earlier in the summer! I was shocked to see what grocery stores are charging for a small bottle of herbs these days! Gadzooks, most of them are so easy to grow at home! If you aren't an herb-gardener yet, you should try some next season! My staples are perennial herbs like thyme, lemon balm, sage, savory and oregano. I also grow herbs that won't survive our winters, like basil and rosemary,all summer long in the greenhouse and/or in pots on the back deck. These herbs season sauces, soups, stews and breads all year long and I can't imagine my life without them! There was a time when Don felt I was growing too many herbs and not enough "real food". I reminded him that I was growing the things that made our meals taste great...so he should quit his whining! He did.
Gardening is my thing. Nurturing plants nurtures me. I'm amazed every year when one seed, planted and watered, blesses us with beauty and/or food, and I hope I'll always be amazed at this miracle. Don keeps telling me that we need to put automated sprinklers in the garden, but I keep putting him off. I like to spend summer mornings watering, watching the plants grow, the flowers bloom and the birds and the bees do their thing! Paradise really is a garden!
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