Sunday, July 13, 2014

Summer Harvest

This is the time during the summer when the gardening harvests are at their peak.  The green beans have come and gone.  The early peas are just a memory.  But the tomatoes, corn, peas, and butter beans are in full swing.

Growing up in the Mississippi Delta, you could always count on Pop to show up early in the morning with a massive bag of freshly picked peas.  It was our job to begin the shelling.  By the time we had just about finished, he would show up with another.  Purple hull peas were the worst.  Before you knew it, your fingers were completely stained purple from your hard work.

The next thing you know, dear ole Dad would pull up in his pickup with a truck load of sweet or field corn.  There ain't nuthin' like the taste of cream corn fried in a cast iron skillet!  To get it to that point you had to be a finely tuned team on a mission.  First, the shucking.  Then the silking and worm removal.  Then an adult was charged with cutting the kernals off the cob them milking  every last bit of corn off the cob with the backside of the knife.  As the bowls of corn would begin to overflow, grandma would begin the bagging and freezing.

All fall and winter, we would enjoy the fruits of our labor at the dinner table.  To us it wasn't that special, just an average day with an ordinary meal.  But now, oh how I wish I could revisit the past!

Now, you go to the farmers market, and there you again can see mother nature's bounty.  Tomatoes in twenty five pound boxes.  Squash and cucumbers piled high.  Huge boxes are filled with watermelons from Smith County.  And no more shelling.  Now, for $25, you can get the peas and butter beans of your choice already shelled in a huge plastic sleeve.

Sweet corn is piled high and sold by the ear. And none of it has ever seen the first worm.  Fruits of all kinds are neatly arranged in baskets with no bruises or bad spots to be found.

Sorry, this just isn't the same!  You have to put in your salty sweat into it for it to taste good!    But, families have now grown apart.  Grandparents now live far and away.  Country folk have now become city slickers. And kids have much better things to do besides shelling, like texting, face timing, and such.  Backyards are now full of swimming pools, flowers and ornamental bushes.

I refuse to give up.  I do container gardening in five gallon buckets since this dirt will barely grow grass.  I buy sweet corn by the ear in 50 ear boxes.  My tree continues to fail, so my homemade jelly costs me about $3 a jar.  I get canning tomatoes for $14 a box vs the $25 for unblemished.  And this time of year there ain't nothing finer than a Smith County Watermelon.  They now come with a sticker so you'll know you've got the real McCoy!

Thankfully son#2 has his Greandaddies green thumbs.  His girly friend's dad has provided him some dirt.  His first year was comical, but year two is showing some results.  By the time he is graduated and on his own, maybe, just maybe, I'll get the call.  Come in over, the kitchen floor is covered in corn!

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