June 6, 2010
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I wonder if I should stop Facebook for the summer. I can just see my status updates: “The corn is all up! The neatest little rows that you ever did see…”
-“The cauliflower is planted and under protective bleach jugs!
-“Hurray for mulched raspberries! And oh….my aching back.”
-“20 packs of peas in the freezer tonite. Next week’s picking will be double that.” (This one accompanied by a photo of those near and dear shelling peas on the front porch.)
-“Ahhh….fresh broccoli! (Albeit there are lots of worms to be drowned in salt water.)”
-“Anyone need beans? We have 100 quarts already and thousands more to pick.”
-‘Waaaah! The corn and cucumbers froze and we didn’t get our yearly supply yet.”
You get the picture. Yeah. I know. I’ve lost half of you already.
Yesterday was one gorgeous day and last evening I was out in the garden digging holes for transplanting plants. Finally. And analyzing why I garden. There are actually quite a few reasons.
One reason is that I grew up that way. I can still picture my mom, her face red from hoeing thistles. And I hear dear Dad exclaiming over the first green onions and the baby lettuce and the beautiful red tomatoes. We ate baby red beets and greens with delight and took cucumbers with salt and vinegar to bed for our bedtime snacks. No kidding. The Peachey clan did that.
And I married Dan, who gets a big thrill over seeing anything grow. Nothing pleases him more. And he very cheerfully plants and weeds and picks and preserves. When he’s not too busy vaccinating calves or sowing barley or making hay or combining oats or sawing lumber.
I garden because it is the Thing to Do in Bay Tree, Alberta. Especially if you go to our church. It gives us something to talk about. Three out of our four main families at church are farmers. And sometimes I feel like a bored fish out of water when we get to talking calving and lambing and vaccinating and branding. Not to mention haying. (Sorry Vivian, Janice, Tammy & Mary Beth. I love you lots.) I don’t care much for the cows and Dan doesn’t expect me to be involved at this stage of life. But I can get into “How does your garden grow?” and “Are you picking peas yet?” and “Did you guys get frost this morning?” This is familiar territory.
Why is it the Thing to Do? Many of our other neighbors grow gardens too. I wish I could describe to you the golden days of summer here! They are beautiful, to state it mildly. Loooooong and warm (usually) and lovely. Four to six hours to work outside after supper if you care to. The peas get taller than me some years. The carrots are sweeter than anywhere else. And the potatoes? Some of them get big enough to feed a family of four with one potato. Oh yes….the worms love to destroy the thriving cabbage plants and the corn doesn’t always come to fruition before frost. We pick our tomatoes green and bring them inside to ripen most Septembers. But July & August are usually splendid months of bountiful peas and green beans and tender new potatoes.
I garden because it really is therapeutic–sometimes. I like to weed in the stillness. Our 12 year old thinks tilling is fun, so that job is now his. The children usually play happily when I’m outside working nearby.
I know it’s healthy to grow your own vegetables. And it’s rewarding. And I love, love, LOVE to give away fresh produce and have people swoon in gratefulness.
I like having work for the children in the summer. They groan over all the peas we have to shell and the buckets of beans that they snip, but it’s good for them. And nothing beats eating a crunchy carrot that you clean off on your shirt sleeve.
And flowers? They’re a must in a land of long winters. Give me petunias, please. Something bright that blooms and blooms. I love all flowers, but the old standbys like petunias, marigolds and pansies are the ones that do best here. And perennials are great too. I love them all.
I like to garden. But I think I could be just as happy living in a little house with a tiny garden plot with a few plants and lots of flowers. I don’t think that organic food is the only way to good health. I don’t think that everyone has to put away 100 quarts of green beans to be a good family. I sigh at the new crop of weeds and the long rows of peas to pick. I don’t know what to do with the six pumpkins my dearest likes to grow. I get grouchy over wormy broccoli. Some days I would like to run away from the green bean patch.
But still I garden. It’s a good life. It suits us. The vegetables are delightful. The rewards are plenteous.
And speaking of long summer days…. Last night I was focusing on transplanting plants and then bathing children. And at 11:00 when the house was quiet I ran out to put Roundup on a few nasty weeds that I Just Never Get To. Spray, spray, spray….Oh—missed that one….more spray. More thoughts about Weeds. And about keeping my baby far from this spot for the next few days. And then the bottle of Roundup spray ran out and I looked up and saw this. My cheap camera doesn’t do it justice.
Pennsylvania and Indiana would laugh so hard. It actually crossed our minds to pack up our six this weekend and drive the 15 hours to Bonner’s Ferry, Idaho to listen to a chorus group headed by a friend in Seymour, Missouri. I wanted/still want to go very badly. We even cleaned the van…in case. But the weather is finally dry enough to finish the seeding. And we have a trip coming up in July and probably another in August. So we will (*big sigh*) stay home instead. Why do I want to bother? It would mean a weekend with my sister and family, who recently moved there. It would mean seeing 200 people on Sunday morning instead of 28. It would mean some beautiful choral music. It’s summer, the sky is blue and I have a nearly uncontrollable desire to Go…almost Anywhere. I love Bay Tree. I love our church. I love our community. But there are times when it all seems too small and confining and I just want to see a bigger picture and some different people.
But for this time we’ll stay home. Maybe take in some garage sales today. And barbecue steaks for supper. (Every time Dan gets steak out of the freezer I feel like we should invite someone over for supper. It seems selfish to use the good stuff just for our own family.) We’ll support our own church tomorrow. And probably invite friends to eat together.
I do struggle over our summer farm schedule. While I dream of camping and trips and picnicking the brief lovely days fly away in a flurry of peas to pick, hay to make, and summer Bible school to plan. I am not complaining. We do barbecue and picnic and go camping a few times. And yes, I mentioned trips already. It’s just… a bit of discontentment that I battle. Most of the winter Dan is close by and we spend a lot of time together as a family. And we do not suffer in the summer months. It’s just that Wanting to Go in my spirit that I can’t quite silence.
God, please grant me the serenity to accept and the embrace the gift of these perfectly beautiful ordinary days.
Comments (6)
O my! Don’t stop.. Unless you don’t have time.. But you write soo intriguin-ly!
You know…I had a Mom who always had a HUGE garden. And I love home grown stuff, but somehow the hard work of it sort of makes me not want it quite as bad. Not sure if I’m lazy or what, but this is the first year since we’re married that I have a little teeny garden. We’ll see how it goes?
I don’t think you are alone in the restlessness that sometimes comes. But I think you ended it well when you said about enjoying these “ordinary days.” There really, really is SO much to be thankful for!
Loved reading what you had to write. It would be fun to hang out again some day. Do any of your trips involve Wisconsin?
@ladybuglyd - Thank you.@appalolly - I don’t think gardening is for everyone, really. But maybe you’ll find out you like it. One of my sisters didn’t think she liked it until she had her very own nice spot and now she can’t get enough of gardening. I often wonder if it really pays in the long run…all the work. And yes, it would be fun to see you again! We’re hoping that our July Peachey reunion in southern Alberta can extend into a Wisconsin trip. But that depends on the farming and gardening…ha.
Enjoyed your post.
We, too, have a garden. Most times I enjoy it, sometimes I don’t.
I do enjoy all those fresh vegetables growing right outside my door.
I think you’re blessed beyond measure to have the land, time and good conditions to garden! Your children have something to do and you’re eating healthier. Sounds like a dream come true to me. It was sort of hard to relate to your post as i read it, because i was just thinking, “this is what we’ve been dreaming/praying for the past year.” I’m sure I would have a different perspective, given the chance to experience it. We planted 8 tomato plants in a box garden outside the back door. does that count?
I could identify with the feeling of wanting to GO. Only I/we want to travel the world….not so much to be w/ people (I think we have enough of those-lol) but to experience other cultures and peoples worldwide. Instead we read, read, read, and watch things on Google Video and YouTube and get documentaries from the library.
Keep blogging. I love reading!
@SpeakinginLove - Come on up. We could set you up with a beautiful huge garden in no time. And Dan would love to have a co-pastor at church.
It is a good life, really!
Oh…to travel the world. Our dream too. We were so blessed to be able to visit a few Central American countries when we were in BZ for a few years. And to visit family in Grenada and Romania. But it gets harder with more children to travel that way.
Does your husband take on speaking engagements? We’re always looking for speakers for meetings at church. You could all come up and visit our part of the country and see a little bit of the world…travel expenses paid. Not a very glamorous part, to be sure. But interesting nonetheless. But maybe xanga isn’t the place to do church schedule planning…
And yes, tomato plants in a box garden count.