Still here. Up to my neck in beets, beans, and chard. Picked high bush cranberries – made jelly. Picked saskatoons – made jelly. Made borsch, beet pickles, and mustard bean pickles. Tucked in the tomatoes last night after frost forecast (in the middle of August, in the middle of global warming ???, no less.).
Thankfully my garden escaped the frost as it is well sheltered by trees, but a chilly 2 degrees Celcius around 4 o’clock this morning tells me there was frost in some of the surrounding areas. And that will mean a lot of my neighbours will not be so lucky. Only exceptions—the ones whose gardens have already been picked clean by the locusts.
Gardening has got to be something to love to hate and hate to love. It brings personal-satisfaction, personal rejection, joy, frustration, inspiration and exhaustion all in one sometimes dragged out, sometimes condensed, little disassembled unit. I’ll be glad/sad when it is all over for another year.
Meanwhile my new garden potatoes, wrapped in heavy cream, and fresh dill are calling me for lunch.
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6 comments:
Goodness, such harvest and frost too?
We're finally getting enough sun and warmth so that I have stringbeans, parsley and dill. A couple hot peppers. Everything else was wasted by too much rain, too many bugs, no sun.
susan @ spinning
Compared to last year's garden, mine this year was a disaster. I did get some peas and string beans but not enough to put by. There wasn't a squash that grew anywhere and from four cucumber plants I got exactly four cucumbers! My potatoes look okay though, and I have frozen some eggplant. The tomatoes got the blight, spinach and lettuce were decimated in a hail storm and the beets and carrots are small and sparse. Frost in August! It's 90 degrees here today!
I too feel that ambivalence towards gardening. We've just harvested our first modest crop, mainly thanks to Emma's hard work. We're moving to a bigger house soon with a substantial garden so we're getting ready for some committed self-sufficiency work.
Hi Susan, sounds like we all have our own unique set of gardening trials that foster true empathy. At the same time a diet of stringbeans, parsley, dill, (and hot peppers) works well for me.
And here I must add what might sound rather foolish but I'm convinced it's true. I read the other day that beans taste better if cooked in an open kettle (no lid). Of course a nice big spoonful of Chicken-In-A-Mug is tasty as well. Perhaps you will try it and let me know if it is just my imagination.
Thanks for visiting.
Pauline, so sorry that your garden was such a disappointment. But I know you, you will find something beautiful to chant about regardless, and you have the initiative to make mighty fine meals with or without that produce.
Dick, despite what I (and other commenters) may have led you to believe, there are times that we curse the abundance as much as we curse the scarcity of garden stuff other years.
Complaining, you know, is just a little more inspirational than complete satisfaction.
Have a good day, Dick. Thanks for dropping by. Happy gardening in your new place.
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