Look at Those Melons
"There are no gardening mistakes, only experiments."
Dear Elloise,
Another miracle to report: I am growing food. Real food. I don’t want to admit that this might be the first time I have been successful at it but let’s just say that our compost experiments have been VERY abundant due to my lack of talents.
Strolling through the garden ahead of what is forecast to be a rainy week for us here in North Florida, I realize that I have more tomatoes than I can eat. I love them but there are a lot here. I have what looks like a successful asparagus bed going. I have actually harvested enough green beans to make them into a meal and just today…..there are cantaloupes. Round, non bug chewed fruit. (I reserve the right to retract this statement - probably tomorrow because that is the type of luck I have had with gardening.)
I am giddy Elloise. GIDDY.
What makes gardening so exciting? I mean, I could certainly head on down to Publix and grab all the things that we need however, my preference is to toil away in the damn North Florida heat waves, fighting off every bug imaginable and coming out with a few tomatoes….sometimes….if the Universe actually shows me some mercy. Yet still….here I am. Season after season.
I have seen Memes online that reference spending hundreds of dollars to grow a $5,000 tomato. I have to agree. Yet a strange pile of us do just that. Ohhhh the cash that I have spent to buy supplies for this garden. Weed barrier, raised beds, irrigation systems, pest control, SOIL. Ugh.
What is so appealing about growing food?
I think when I really consider the question: it is the knowing. The world is damn crazy right now and to ease my brain a little bit, each time I pluck a carrot out of soil - I am reassuring myself that I can grow food, provide for myself and maybe even a few other humans that I may be fond of. Also, there is a small part of me that is nostalgic about it.
I grew up plucking juicy strawberries off of bushes, handing off the shears to my Momma as she hunted down wild asparagus. I recall an assembly line in our kitchen made up of all of my female relatives as we made batch after batch of jam. It is who I am at my core. Each success, no matter how tiny it may actually be, takes me back to that version of myself. The kid, standing amongst my Grannie, my sweet Momma, my great Aunt and my Sister in our tiny kitchen in Michigan…laughing and making jam.
Skills…and memories, Elloise. I am not sure which of those offers me the most cherished bits but I feel fortunate to have them both right now.
Love,
S