Plentitude

Plentitude

July and August 2015

There is so much to see, and hear, from the screened porch on a summer day. Bright yellow sunflower heads are raised on tall, thick stems, bobbling in the breeze. Some heads droop deeper and darker, as centers have gradually turned heavier toward seed time.

Some of the yellow and black on a sunflower head moves – a male Goldfinch becomes evident. Males and females chatter to one another and dart around in the sunflower patch. They, the Tufted Titmice and Carolina Chickadees visit here for the ample supply of tiny caterpillars and bugs to feed their young and themselves.

Later, various birds will be visiting the sunflowers for the seed, stocking up on nutrition and energy to last the coming winter, or for migration.

Hummingbirds buzz, hover and dart all over the gardens. They find nectar in some of the flowers, but, more importantly, insects all over the place.

There is plenty for insects, birds and other wildlife in our gardens and, this year, plenty for us humans. Here is how our porch usually looks this time of year:

    

In the house there are always bowls, boxes and piles of vegetables and herbs – heirloom tomatoes, eggplants, hot and sweet peppers of various shapes, okra, green and yellow beans, cucumbers, summer squash, parsley, basil, chives.

It's really too much, and that is a very good “problem” to have.

We have been busy canning quarts of tomatoes. I saved the slipped-off skins, cleaned and dehydrated them, then ground them into flakes (later, to powder.) These will add extra tomato-y “umph” to soups, sauces, etc. My sister Laurie has some plans for them, too, that I'm curious to know, so I save plenty for her, too. Richard and I have also been canning pints of tomato juice and sauce. I plan to do a batch of ketchup – so much better than store-bought.

Cucumbers keep tumbling into buckets and into the kitchen, so I have been doing all sorts of pickling – naturally fermented dills for the refrigerator, canned Sweet Pickle Spears (our favorite for potato, tuna and egg salad), canned Curry Pickles, sweet freezer pickles.

Earlier in the summer I fermented sauerkraut from green and red cabbage and kimchee from Chinese cabbage. We canned a slew of green and yellow beans. We froze many quart bags of sweet corn. There is much, much more to come.

We find various ways to use eggplants, and figure out how to use the plentitude of hot and sweet peppers. I keep picking the bright red ones because they are so vibrantly beautiful, but I'm not sure what I'll do with them yet. There are only so many very small jars of intensely hot fermented pepper sauce that one can use, or even share.

We unearth a pile of potatoes from just one plant, but they keep well. I am learning more about cooking Polish food, so I can incorporate from the garden more cabbage, beets, potatoes, green onions, celery and herbs (especially dill.)

I have been making an effort to dry leaves and grind them for “green powders” to use later. This year, I have been using the deep green, shiny, slippery leaves of Malabar, an African plant. It is a most satisfying plant to grow, climbing to great heights on whatever holds are provided, growing densely with leaves, and becoming spotted with clusters of tiny pink flowers that turn into deep purple, shiny berries. The very successful vining Petunias are using the Malabar vines to hoist themselves further up, creating a wallpaper of blue-purple-pink hues. If our house was nearer the road, I would grow this combination where passers-by could see and enjoy it.

The Nasturtium leaves grew larger than I’ve ever seen them before in my garden. I have collected them to dry for green powder, and also made Nasturtium Pesto using leaves and flowers.

Needless to say, we find it very difficult to keep up, but do our best.  Meals are wonderful, as we keep trying to use up produce in creative ways. But, things rot. Every day we toss vegetables into the compost bin. In that way nothing goes to waste.

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of the year – a celebration of bounty and the sharing of it, and of gathering, no matter what anyone’s ethnicity, religion (or no religion) or family situation.

At our place, it seems like Thanksgiving much of the time. We are constantly thankful, constantly aware of our good fortune, constantly able to share, whether meals or extra produce. Our table is often well-laden.

Because of plentitude, I am thankful for these:

-          That we have the space to grow and produce so much (though I love the creativity involved in seeing how much a person can produce from a small space)

-          That we are both in great health, enabling us to grow, produce, process and make meals with this bounty

-          That our garden food produced with healthy soil, organic amendments, no genetically modified components, no synthetic chemicals, and the good heritage of heirloom varieties, contributes greatly to our health.

-          That working in the gardens also contributes to our health – exercise, sunshine, fresh air, contact with soil

-          That we can also enjoy the environment around us – singing birds, darting hummingbirds and dragonflies, a myriad butterflies, moths, wasps, bees, beetles, spiders and other bugs, and other wildlife such as rabbits, deer and raccoons (yes, even when they eat from our garden) as well as the sound of wind through the leaves, clouds floating over, the feel of rain – you-name-it

-          That we can find enough time in our lives to work gardens and put up food.

-          That we have so much we can share with family, friends, neighbors, co-workers, etc.

-          That we have family, friends, neighbors and co-workers, etc.

-          That we normally have enough sun, rain, heat and cold where we live

-          That we have each other to share the work, the joy, the disappointments, the flavor, the plentitude. I know that sounds sappy, and I don’t like to be sappy, but I don’t know another way to say it.

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Happy Thanksgiving (early, technically)!

I wish you plenty of anything you truly need.