Originally this started out to be a simple "three beautiful things" piece,and, while it still, in essence is just that, I realized while organizing my thoughts, to do the subject justice,it must be done as a great deal more. So,with a tip of the hat to TBT, AND an apology, (sorry Claire) I have to say that putting in a garden can be a very important part of every person's growth. Several years ago, Yon son and I got a chance to put in a tiny garden when we rented the lower apartment of my step-fathers building. Mom and "Dad" lived upstairs. I was married to Tom...basically a man who worked hard all week long,and on the week-ends turned into a recliner situated in front of the television,who drank beer and burped, and watched ball games. So, if I was to have any help at all with the garden, Yon son would have to do it. We got the go ahead from Dad to do it, with the encouraging words, Yeah, go ahead, but nothing will grow back there, that's where we used to empty the ash-can. But with diligence and lots of work and miracle grow and prayer, we planted our seeds,and filled in top-soil, and stood across the alley from our little plot of ground, and admired it as a whole, every evening, every morning. Soon we had a dwarf willow tree,and flowers and pumpkin vines growing so vigorously that we had to work to keep them contained on the soil,and not go straying into the alley! And, we had a blast doing it! It was the first time in Yon son's life that we were able to have a garden we could see come to fruition,and he never got over what a wonderful experience it was, but he also knew it was a lot of work,and required a lot of attention.
So, it was with great expectancy that we moved to the downstairs of this building. We lived upstairs for several years,and watched as our downstairs renter played with his yard. His was the yard,the garage,and the parking space next to the garage.Such were the perks of being the downstairs tenant.We would sit out on the back porch in the summer, in the cool of the evening and gaze at his patch of flowers, and beautiful lawn and dream, wishing we had a way to turn the fallow garden spot into something akin to what we had had once before, in that other place. Although we never for a moment allowed ourselves to go as far as jealousy, and did not expect there would ever come a day when we would have a chance to bring those dreams to light, we did speak softly of how nice it would be to have that spot, fully four times the size of our other garden, to grow tomatoes, and lettuce,and squash and corn, and pumpkins. Take out some of the silly stuff he had in the yard, and put in rose bushes,and a bird-bath.And around the bird-bath, pansies,and petunias and coleus, astors,zinnias and marigolds.Our list was huge,and we dreamed big, but we never dreamed we would ever have an opportunity to do those things,and we never breathed a word to anyone else of our aspirations. So it came as a great surprise to us, when one day the man down stairs,and the landlord had a shouting match that could be heard all over the neighborhood, complete with threats and slamming doors,and revving engines and squealing tires! Even more surprising when we were informed that the man downstairs was leaving and would we like to take the apartment. Before I knew it, we were moving, and I was in possession of a yard,with room for a garden! That first year, we put in a late garden,and it really didn't do very well because of that. Yon son was very disappointed,and was fairly out of the notion of even considering a garden the next year, or even the next. But every year I would get the catalogs and make my list of things I wanted to put in,but it was all I could do to drag him out to purchase my rose bushes, and my bird-bath,gardening gloves, and the rake and hoe and other utensils, and plant food and rose food. As is my usual way, the more disinclined he seemed to be, the more I dug in my heels and determined to do this thing. So, this year I started early. Just after the first of the year, I dragged out my catalogs and began making my plans for this year's garden. Unlike previous times, I made my list,and then talked to Yon son about the wonderful foods we so love in the summer. Tomatoes. Lettuces. Corn. Squash,and Pumpkins. I reminded him how much fun it was to have that previous garden,and how great it is to have your own tomatoes, from your own garden,and how marvelous it is to be able to pick them at the peak of perfection, and not have to settle for either old mushy tomatoes that have sat on the shelf too long, or for woody, flavorless stuff you buy at the store. He reminded me how heartbreaking it was to have a lovely, prize pumpkin that we spotted,and babied and admired all season long, only to have it stolen from our tiny patch the night before Halloween. That is when I played my trump card. Yes, But, with this garden space, if we start early, we can prepare the ground right, and put in enough seeds to assure that there will be enough, even with poachers, to make it all worthwhile. I could see by the look on his face that I had made my point, not just about the pumpkin, but about the tomatoes. We use a lot of tomatoes,and for the most part, they are, to put it bluntly, a disappointment. He knew as well as I that the only way to make sure that we could enjoy every salad, every big burger, every batch of pepper steak,or spaghetti sauce, was to have fresh garden tomatoes. Then I started talking about his fabulous squash soup,and how difficult it is to find acorn squash fresh enough to have it come out right. And, the sweet corn. You can't tell if what you are buying at the store is sweet corn or field corn, until you taste it. If it's field corn, he will eat it anyway, but to me, it's either give it to him, or just throw it out. But, what cinched it, I believe was the pumpkin. He never quite got over that pumpkin,and it will prey on his mind until he has a good episode...another prize pumpkin he can help me turn into several pies, bars and other goodies to get past that first incident. Well, somewhere along the line, during those myriad talks, Yon son revived that spark that lit a fire in both of us to throw our energies into the garden,and he is being so attentive to the garden that it is just really producing well. We've had tomatoes now whenever we wanted them for weeks,and not just for our own use, but for others as well. Such as Sherry, and the poor old soul who lives upstairs now. The corn is doing well,and we should be able to harvest a few ears by the end of the month,but the squash is doing so well, Yon son brought in two beautiful ones today,one of which we cooked and had for lunch. Oh! I have always liked acorn squash, but when you pick it fresh out of the garden, split, clean and wave it with butter and salt and pepper within minutes of being on the vine,it is amazing! So delectable, and so reassuring to know that there are no pesticides, no wax on it, just good nourishing food it was meant to be. Yon is once more so invigorated over the garden, he is now talking seriously about doing some canning this fall. I think it's a fine idea, but I am leaning more towards a freezing system, so we can stock the freezer. Either way, I am just glad that I was able to encourage my son to employ yet another way to provide for his family. Even now, he is planning to put beans in next year,and who knows how large the garden will be then? All I know,is that I did not let that one bad experience stand, and leave a sour taste in his mouth, scotching forever his ability to drastically cut his food budget, by growing his own food, as we have this summer. He now knows, without my having to spell it out for him, how rewarding it is to be able to live off the land the Lord has provided. I've taught him to hunt spring and fall mushrooms,and how to cook them. How to fish, clean and cook the fish.And now fruits and vegetables. He now understands that hunting,fishing, and gardening are not just pastimes, they are the basics necessary to provide food for yourself and your family. Something that most men and women in this day and age do not understand. Most in our society today consider these things hobbies,and spend an extraordinary amount of time and energy on cultivating things that, where they may be pretty, have no nutritional, or medicinal value. Oh, yeah, I can see you pointing your fingers and and saying Aha! over my roses, but did you know that rose hip tea is very soothing to a sore throat? Anyway, my point is, parents shouldn't stop teaching their children how to be self-sufficient until the job is done. Now I don't know how, nor pretend to have any interest in hunting game, simply because even if I had a gun, and could find a deer, I don't think I could bring myself to shoot it, unless I was really, really hungry. And I am certainly not going to expect my child to try to do something I cannot do. But the truth is, times are going to get hard,and when they do, stores will not have the food. You and your children are going to have to find food on your own.Personally, I can live on a diet of fish, mushrooms, fruits and vegetables, and bread. So can Yon son. He also knows how to store flour and the other staples necessary to make bread,and he knows how to bake bread.We're packing the freezer, and storing water.
You, surely are aware that things are becoming tighter all the time,and if you haven't taught your children that food is important to life, and that it doesn't grow on store shelves, then you have some work to do. Think about it. With gas prices getting so high, and so much of the foods you are accustomed to having available being brought in, trucked in from all over the country,it won't be long before a lot of it will either be too costly to purchase, or simply not there. Anywhere.
OUI?
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