As the Garden Grows

I admit to having been a real funk lately. Hence the absence here. I guess you could call it a garden funk. I have barely spent any time in the garden in 3 weeks. Maybe it is the heat and humidity and the drought partnered with the fact that despite the drought, the weeds have finally taken over.

I came home from work this afternoon to cloudy skies and soft rolling thunder. The weather predictions for the next couple of days have forecast rain and possibly very much of it if hurricane Ernesto follows the predicted path up into the heart of North Carolina. So with this impending rain, I decided to see what there was to harvest in the garden. I put on my boots and went to the lower garden and cut the mostly dry seed heads from the sunflowers and put them into the bottom of my bushel basket. I went further down the the pea patch (crowder peas). Most of them have been severely damaged from the drought and high temperatures but to my disbelief, I was able to pick a couple of fist fulls and saw a few new pods and even a couple of blooms. I then cut just a few pods of okra; just enough to add to some soup or stewed tomatoes. I turned to survey my late corn crop. Pretty pitiful and sad it was. The ears are so tiny but I picked a couple, shucked them and they were so pretty, perfectly filled in with beautiful kernels however only about 3 inches long. I ate them on the spot and they were delicious. The deer will probably think that they are delicious too. Maybe I can harvest some for us to enjoy. I looked for my potatoes and couldn't see any plants. After I scratched and pulled a few weeds, I was able to find the withered plants, so I marked them and will try to dig some after the rains. I picked up my basket and walked over my little bridge to the top half of the garden. The early corn is still standing and I want to cut some stalks to decorate for fall. The tomatoes are still putting on but the larger ones are cracking very badly. Still, I picked a good many. Even the brandywines seem to be making another attempt at production. Half of what I picked was from those vines. I picked more crowder peas and noticed that those devil black ants are still keeping vigil over this particular patch of peas. I don't know what it is they like about them but it is like robbing bees of their honey. The ants attack. They crawl up your hand or arm when you reach to pick the pods and bite. They don't leave any mark or anything and it doesn't hurt that bad but it is very annoying. I decided I'd flick them real good with my thumb and forefinger to knock them down before I grabbed the pea pods. Worked pretty good and I got another couple of fists fulls of peas. I noticed that my white runner green beans had a lot of seed pods waiting for me to collect. I'll have to do that later...wait for more to dry. My Luffa gourds are doing well. I should have plenty of pot scrubbers this year. Then I saw red...my cayenne peppers. The whole plant looked aflame. They were all loaded with bright deep red pods. I picked them all and a few habaneros too.

All the while the thunder got a little louder, rumbling across the land and sky. It was the most majestic thunder I have heard in quite a while. The promise of much needed rain was accented by a few drops occasionally falling to the parched earth beneath my feet. When I was done and had added a few herbs to my bushel basket to make some herb vinegar, I realized that I had an incredible bounty. Not only was my basket filled to overflowing but I carried something else too; something inside. The garden had once again taken me in, renewed my spirit and restored my soul. I thanked my garden out loud for it's gifts and I promised that I would not be so long gone again.