The corn came in yesterday. What that means is a big project. Unlike other garden vegetables, corn comes in all at one time. There is no negotiating with corn that is ready to be picked. It has the upper hand. It tells you when, not the other way around. It is a BIG undertaking to “put up” corn. It is a whole production.
When I got to my brother’s house last night, I found the production in full swing. There was an assembly line operation going on. The shucking had already been done, so there were piles of corn everywhere. There were two adults silking the corn, one standing over a fish cooker on the back porch, two cutting the blanched corn off the cob after it cooled and one chasing the children. I fell into place silking. Two of us were silking using plastic dish scrubbers. My bother had a better idea. He was using the water hose on a jet setting. It ripped the silks right off the corn in record time. He was in the back yard, which became flooded in the process of corn cleaning. Fortunately, he was perched in a lawn chair right next to the kiddie pool where his granddaughter was overseeing the operation from the vantage point of the swimming pool. Every now and then, she’d call for a hosing down. He’d turn the hose on her, then go back to silking the corn. My niece’s toddler was weaving in and out of the activity when her grandmother wasn’t quick enough to catch her. There were four generations involved in the process- my mother, her children, her grandchildren and great grandchildren. Where else, but in rural Southwest Alabama and her sister Deep South states are you likely to find an operation like this going on at the Simmer Solstice? Druids celebrated by dancing in the moonlight. We celebrated by wrestling with corn. I think the corn won.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Gardens Are Starting To Come In
My niece married a nice young man. How do I know? He just let me pick squash and corn in his garden. This year has been hard on gardens. We had a lot of rain in May, It was too wet to plant. In June, it has been dry as a bone. You’d think now that we get our produce from the grocery store it wouldn’t matter so much to us. Well, all of us in rural Southwest Alabama seem to have our roots in the soil.
I can remember my grandparent’s gardens every summer. We lived in town, but we went out to Granddaddy Bagley’s garden to pick the peas and corn that were the mainstays of our summer diet. Every day for dinner (meal in the middle of the day), we’d have peas, or occasionally butter beans, corn either on or off the cob, sliced tomatoes, cornbread and sweet tea. The only variation would be the meat dish. Sometimes we’d have squash or fried eggplant in addition to the other vegetables, but mostly just the peas and beans diet. We never tired of it. My favorite was the potlikker from the peas over cornbread. Apparently my siblings and I were picky eaters as children. Mama was a food pusher, a trait which I unfortunately have inherited. She would make us eat. When I discovered the pea juice and cornbread, she never had to make me eat again. That was when I got chubby. I have never lost my love for it.
Sunday, I went out to the garden and picked squash and corn. I am going to the beach with my son’s family. I’m bringing the fresh vegetables as a special treat. When I told my son, he was delighted. He grew up in rural Southwest Alabama. Although, he doesn’t live here now, he got the roots to the soil thing, too. We never know when we’re raising children, what takes and what doesn’t. The love of the soil and its riches took on him. When we get fresh food form the garden, we take it as a matter of course. When we don’t have it, it becomes precious and valuable. I have never seen fresh butter beans of garden quality in any grocery store. There is nothing as delicious as a garden grown fresh tomato. As Garrison Keillor says “there are two things in life that matter – true love and fresh tomatoes.” Around here we would all agree.
I can remember my grandparent’s gardens every summer. We lived in town, but we went out to Granddaddy Bagley’s garden to pick the peas and corn that were the mainstays of our summer diet. Every day for dinner (meal in the middle of the day), we’d have peas, or occasionally butter beans, corn either on or off the cob, sliced tomatoes, cornbread and sweet tea. The only variation would be the meat dish. Sometimes we’d have squash or fried eggplant in addition to the other vegetables, but mostly just the peas and beans diet. We never tired of it. My favorite was the potlikker from the peas over cornbread. Apparently my siblings and I were picky eaters as children. Mama was a food pusher, a trait which I unfortunately have inherited. She would make us eat. When I discovered the pea juice and cornbread, she never had to make me eat again. That was when I got chubby. I have never lost my love for it.
Sunday, I went out to the garden and picked squash and corn. I am going to the beach with my son’s family. I’m bringing the fresh vegetables as a special treat. When I told my son, he was delighted. He grew up in rural Southwest Alabama. Although, he doesn’t live here now, he got the roots to the soil thing, too. We never know when we’re raising children, what takes and what doesn’t. The love of the soil and its riches took on him. When we get fresh food form the garden, we take it as a matter of course. When we don’t have it, it becomes precious and valuable. I have never seen fresh butter beans of garden quality in any grocery store. There is nothing as delicious as a garden grown fresh tomato. As Garrison Keillor says “there are two things in life that matter – true love and fresh tomatoes.” Around here we would all agree.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
JUSTIFICATION FOR GARDENING IN RURAL SOUTHWEST ALABAMA (on Sunday?)
I just skipped church for health reasons. I had just been on the road way too much lately and myself said “Stop”! I have learned to listen to my body when it talks to me. I have learned that if I will do that, then my body doesn’t have to do something drastic like catch the flu to get my attention.
I sat on my porch, which is a good as a church sanctuary for felling close to god. I really believe that phrase that one is a close to god in a garden as any place on earth. My porch sits in the middle of a garden - my front yard. Of course, after sitting for a few minutes, I thought of all the nice plants my friends and family had given me for my birthday. Because I have been on the road so much, they were unplanted. I know that a lot of the old folks thought God would get you if you worked on Sunday. I think that God should stay in the Old Testament where he belongs. I’ll probably get some hate mail over that one. I got some over saying Billy Joe Royal was old and around here God ia a lot more popular than billy Joe Royal and a lot older. A lot of people in rural Southwest Alabama don’t like it when you mess with their traditions, whether they are yours or not. I think it’s fine to garden on Sunday. For me, Gardening is a joy, not a chore. Besides, I don’t often get time to do it during the week. I’m not trying to debate theology. Nobdoy ever wins at that. Opinions are like noses, everybody’s got one. We can’t wear each other’s noses and we’ve got just about as much use for somebody else’s opinion as we have their noses.
The devil didn’t make me do it, Mother Nature did and I think she’s God’s best friend. I had to get those plants out. I had a pile of them. One of them was an investment plant. My sister-in-law asked me what I wanted for my birthday. I told her I wanted a Limelight hydrangea. She had given me one two years before and I had lost it in the drought. The local nursery didn’t have one, so she had to go down the road to a place where they think a whole lot of their plants. I know this for a fact because as I was buying some pants from them one day, I saw some phlox they had thrown out in a ditch coming up and asked if I could have one. They said no. I could come back in 8 weeks and buy one. I haven’t had much use for those folks ever since. Gardeners share, especially when people are already paying you good money for other plants. I felt really bad about her having to go there to find one and REALLY bad about what they charged. They do a lot of landscaping for people with more money than the inclination to garden. I knew that I had to get that plant in the ground as a tribute to her generosity in even being willing to trust me with one again, especially since she went to the scalping place to get me one. I couldn’t let this one die, too. I had a bunch of other plants from gardening friends as well.
Sunday gardening is not a chore for me. I had walked around the yard earlier in the week and made mental notes about where to put things. I have a goal of one day having no yard except paths and flowers. I moved one step closer to the goal today. After much trial and error, I have learned that some plants like shade and some like sun. Some however, don’t really give a happy damn. I had a bunch of new daylilies to plant. They fall in the happy damn category. They were my first gardening success many years ago. You can throw them out and say “grow”. They will. They can live through anything, even being dug up and thrown in a ditch. In fact, I saw a whole ditchful blooming happily just up the road. I mad a new bed for them near the porch. I have a big secret garden on the side of the house, but in the past few years’ I’ve done more and more gardening near the porch where I can see it bloom and the people passing by in the street can enjoy it, too. That’s where the new daylilies are. I hope they are as happy as I was this Sunday morning planting them. I see it’s clouding up. Maybe God will help me water them. I’ll consider that a Divine Sign that He didn’t much mind that I wasn’t at church today; I think all of nature is HIS HOUSE. So much for my Sunday theology position, it’s not original with me. I really got the urge started by talking to a Baptist friend last night. She said how much she enjoyed sitting around drinking coffee on Sunday morning. When I got up and my body said “Whoa!” I thought of how much I’d enjoy a day off from church. I really did enjoy it. I hope where ever you spent Sunday, you enjoyed it, too!
I sat on my porch, which is a good as a church sanctuary for felling close to god. I really believe that phrase that one is a close to god in a garden as any place on earth. My porch sits in the middle of a garden - my front yard. Of course, after sitting for a few minutes, I thought of all the nice plants my friends and family had given me for my birthday. Because I have been on the road so much, they were unplanted. I know that a lot of the old folks thought God would get you if you worked on Sunday. I think that God should stay in the Old Testament where he belongs. I’ll probably get some hate mail over that one. I got some over saying Billy Joe Royal was old and around here God ia a lot more popular than billy Joe Royal and a lot older. A lot of people in rural Southwest Alabama don’t like it when you mess with their traditions, whether they are yours or not. I think it’s fine to garden on Sunday. For me, Gardening is a joy, not a chore. Besides, I don’t often get time to do it during the week. I’m not trying to debate theology. Nobdoy ever wins at that. Opinions are like noses, everybody’s got one. We can’t wear each other’s noses and we’ve got just about as much use for somebody else’s opinion as we have their noses.
The devil didn’t make me do it, Mother Nature did and I think she’s God’s best friend. I had to get those plants out. I had a pile of them. One of them was an investment plant. My sister-in-law asked me what I wanted for my birthday. I told her I wanted a Limelight hydrangea. She had given me one two years before and I had lost it in the drought. The local nursery didn’t have one, so she had to go down the road to a place where they think a whole lot of their plants. I know this for a fact because as I was buying some pants from them one day, I saw some phlox they had thrown out in a ditch coming up and asked if I could have one. They said no. I could come back in 8 weeks and buy one. I haven’t had much use for those folks ever since. Gardeners share, especially when people are already paying you good money for other plants. I felt really bad about her having to go there to find one and REALLY bad about what they charged. They do a lot of landscaping for people with more money than the inclination to garden. I knew that I had to get that plant in the ground as a tribute to her generosity in even being willing to trust me with one again, especially since she went to the scalping place to get me one. I couldn’t let this one die, too. I had a bunch of other plants from gardening friends as well.
Sunday gardening is not a chore for me. I had walked around the yard earlier in the week and made mental notes about where to put things. I have a goal of one day having no yard except paths and flowers. I moved one step closer to the goal today. After much trial and error, I have learned that some plants like shade and some like sun. Some however, don’t really give a happy damn. I had a bunch of new daylilies to plant. They fall in the happy damn category. They were my first gardening success many years ago. You can throw them out and say “grow”. They will. They can live through anything, even being dug up and thrown in a ditch. In fact, I saw a whole ditchful blooming happily just up the road. I mad a new bed for them near the porch. I have a big secret garden on the side of the house, but in the past few years’ I’ve done more and more gardening near the porch where I can see it bloom and the people passing by in the street can enjoy it, too. That’s where the new daylilies are. I hope they are as happy as I was this Sunday morning planting them. I see it’s clouding up. Maybe God will help me water them. I’ll consider that a Divine Sign that He didn’t much mind that I wasn’t at church today; I think all of nature is HIS HOUSE. So much for my Sunday theology position, it’s not original with me. I really got the urge started by talking to a Baptist friend last night. She said how much she enjoyed sitting around drinking coffee on Sunday morning. When I got up and my body said “Whoa!” I thought of how much I’d enjoy a day off from church. I really did enjoy it. I hope where ever you spent Sunday, you enjoyed it, too!
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