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.