As the Garden Grows

Usually, I have no problem being alone. I enjoy the quiet and the stillness that accompanies the fact that no one is at home but me. I even like being outside, in the garden, in the woods; just myself and sometimes my dog (she's a good snake hunter). This gardening has been especially challenging because I have had to do it all alone. Don't take this wrong, I am a very independent person and many a day in the past years, you could find me in the garden by myself or with my cat picking beans, peas, okra, or weeding. My husband was always close by though doing "his chores". He likes to hoe, cultivate, rip out old plantings to make way for new and stuff like that. he also likes to pick peppers, tomatoes, squash and corn but doesn't like the "small stuff" so I always pick those. This year with him on crutches (and surprisingly clumsy on them) the garden is off limits with all it's uneven surfaces and soft soil. It is practically killing him...the day of his accident he was planning on coming home from work to be in the garden but went somewhere with his boss instead. So it is killing him - did I say that already? Yes, but I hear it at least twice every day. I have been so wrapped up in helping him heal his body and taking care of his needs and seeing that he has good, nourishing food to eat that I haven't thought about it much but this weekend, it hit me pretty hard. The reason why I haven't been as gung-ho in the garden this year is not just for lack of time (though that is true too) but I really miss my partner and being able to share the experience of putting food on our table together. It is sad that we as humans sometimes don't appreciate the little things in life until they are gone. I am so thankful that my husband's injury is not permanent and that one day hopefully very soon...We will be back in the garden together, planning, planting and putting good food on our table.

With money so tight these days, (hubby out of work - broke leg - ya know) I have been trying to stretch everything as far as it will go, waste nothing, and make everything I can from scratch. When you accompany that with working a full-time job it is quite exhausting. So these days, I am quite exhausted but also happily satisfied with providing for my family with very little means. I went to the grocery store Tuesday and spent a little over $33.00. I think I can make this last through the weekend and possibly to next Tuesday with the exception of eggs. We are eating squash, zucchini, green beans, cucumbers, onions and peppers from the garden; rice (I bought a huge bag a couple of months ago) and dried beans - I always have at least 3 different kinds on hand. I have been baking all of our bread; cornbread, sandwich loaves, biscuits and muffins. I only add meat a couple of times a week and it is usually in a casserole with vegetables but I am looking forward to roasting a chicken this weekend. That bird will be toast! Bones picked clean. I have also been making buttermilk from culture and regular milk. It has been turning out very well. I always use buttermilk in my biscuits and cornbread. It just doesn't taste the same otherwise. These are just some of the things I have been doing to get by on a lot less. Actually, for poor folks, we've been eating pretty good! And healthy too boot!

Lots of rain is what we've been getting here in the foothills and piedmont of N.C. Every day this week we have gotten a storm in the late afternoon. Some have been hit hard by strong winds, hail and extreme lightening. We have only have some strong winds (that blew down my corn btw). Luckily where we live the really bad weather seems to be north, east and south of us every time. I am very thankful for that. We really need the rain too, since the terrible drought last year had everything here sucked dry.

I mentioned my garden wasn't what I had hoped for this year. Well, where there's little, somewhere else there's plenty. My sister who loves in the northern end of the county is inundated with beans and she promises to supply me with some this weekend that I will put up by canning. My other sister also has beans that will be ready to pick next week and they will be on vacation, so I'll get to pick those too. Somehow, between my family's small gardens and the farmer's markets we will get the produce that we ourselves hoped to raise this year and put up a nice bit of food for the winter months ahead. Several of the people I work with say to me: "I don't know how you do all the things that you do, I would never have the time". Well, I just make the time. I feel like the gardening, harvesting and preserving of good home grown or wild grown food is something we all should do. It is normal for me to do this every year. Perhaps that is because I remember my mother and us kids raising a garden and preserving everything we could get our hands on back then. I wouldn't feel right not having my pantry shelves gleaming with newly canned jars of the best food around. I enjoy it too. It gives me a great sense of satisfaction. Besides, I'm just carrying on a tradition in my family. That feels good too. I am using the same pressure canner that my great aunt used and many of the accessories are from that era too. I feel like somehow I'm helping keep their spirits alive with this tradition. I can feel their smiling faces while I work. Sorry, but you don't get that from the grocery store.

I'll start off to say that I am missing being in the garden this summer. Things started out very promising and with very high hopes to grow and preserve a large part of what we eat. Then the unexpected happened. My husband suffered an injury to his leg that broke bones, tore the miniscus and did lots of other tissue damage. The result was surgery to repair everything. He can't put weight on his foot for 3 months. He is nearly 2 months in now and starting to get around better but for the last month and a half, I have been very busy just taking care of him. What we did get planted before the accident has been nibbled on by deer but I think that with all the rain we've gotten here lately, they are finding something else to eat because they have finally stopped eating the leaves off my bean and pea plants. All we have this year is peppers, eggplant, lots of tomatoes and squash. The corn may not make it due to a lot of heavy winds during storms. It is laying on the ground right now. But the bright side of things is that this is temporary and as soon as he can, we are going to plant some things for a fall/winter garden and make more raised beds as they would be so much easier to manage. I think this has been a learning lesson for the both of us.
For one thing, we have learned to do without more things since he is out of work and drawing absolutely nothing. The other thing we've learned is to slow down and be more appreciative of what we do have.
I am picking loads of blackberries and making wine and freezing them for cobblers. I have also been processing the apples from our old trees into dried apples, apple sauce, and apple butter. A friend gave me some old honey she found in her dad's basement that still looked pretty good, just a little darker and I am making mead for the first time. I can't wait to see how it turns out. So, if we don't have anything else to eat from the gardens this winter, we will have apples, canned tomatoes and a bit of alcohol to drink ;~)