The Daily DuBrule
Tonight I dug up my dinner. I noticed that the tops of the potato plants had finally given up the ghost. It was time to unearth the goodness I have been waiting for all summer. Have you ever grown your own potatoes? Let me tell you, there is NOTHING better than eating potatoes that were dug from the earth an hour before dinner. The rich flavor just makes you want to jump for joy. I placed the carrots in a roasting pan, smothered them with fresh rosemary and winter savory, sprayed them with olive oil, added some salt and coarsely ground black pepper, and stuck them in the oven. I can smell the rich aroma as I write this. I pulled up some carrots to nibble on while I am waiting. They are getting very big and happy this week (the rain probably has a lot to do with it) and then I turned to the beans.
I grow purple snap beans because, well, I love the color purple. My husband is very traditional and likes his beans GREEN thank you very much. When you cook these beans, they turn green. Phew. The best of both worlds. These are bush beans. I also have some great pole beans coming along which will be ready to start harvesting over the weekend. The strong winds of last night tipped my bamboo tipi over. Try as I might, I couldn't make it stand up again. I trudged into the garage, grabbed a very thick, sturdy oak stake, pounded it deep into the soil, and tied my tipi up with some electrical wire. Voila. The pole beans have been saved to grow another day!
It's a time of transition in my food garden. The very last of the tomatoes and peppers are being harvested. The eggplants and my summer squashes that I planted in July are still chugging along. The basil is done. The parsley is getting REALLY happy again. All my self sown 'Ruby Streaks' mustard is ready to eat and the chard- I've been eating my yellow and ruby red Swiss chard for months now. The figs are ripening every single day. Tuesday I found three huge ripe ones and left them for my husband to enjoy when he worked from home. That's a sweet sight to wake up to!
I just adore growing food. Perhaps that's why I am just a tiny bit down in the dumps this week, despite the picture perfect fall weather. I can see the seasons are changing. The butterflies that encased my Heptacodium tree and butterfly bush last week are gone. I haven't seen a hummingbird in a while either. Every morning, the bumblebees are taking longer and longer to wake up from their slumber, hugging the flowers. They must have amazing nectar dreams.
Don't get me wrong. My garden is still filled with flowers, ripe with berries, and totally amazing. I can just see what's ahead, the barren months when I can't just walk outside barefoot, graze on what's growing, and sit and stare for as long as I want at the bounty and abundance that surrounds me.
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