It has been pretty busy around here lately, at least for me. A birthday party, a first communion, Mother's Day, and the regular busyness of every day life have kept me from the computer for awhile. That and I didn't want to blog about any of the above things without some pictures. Currently, my camera is across the state line in my aunt's car. It will eventually return, but until then, you'll have to wait to see just how adorable my cousin Elizabeth looked in her communion gown or how goofy my cousin Joe looks at age 7.
What I am really excited about right now, though, is the fact that my seeds are beginning to sprout! On Sunday, I began to see a little green popping through the soil. By the next day, the plants were a full three inches above the rim of the pot. Yesterday, they were a full six to seven inches tall! I know that this is natural and really, I should not be so shocked by the entire process, but I admit to a little bit of child-like awe at the whole process. After planting the first of these seedlings in my small patch of earth outside, I am ready to see these plants (zucchini and yellow squash to begin with, and hopefully cucumbers and peppers by the weekend) take over the brown patches of dirt and begin bearing a crop hopefully large enough to satisfy my needs. I have missed having a real garden, and I am looking forward to making a more concerted effort in getting this one to take root.
Why is it so important to me? I think part of it is a twinge of nostalgia. Growing up, we had a lot more space to grow vegetables. Every year, we would plant the several varieties of squash, tomatoes, and peppers along with some watermelon and cantaloupe. Some years we had green beans and broccoli. One year, we planted okra, and it took about seven years for it to stop coming up voluntarily. (We discovered that there is only so much okra one family can eat, and it was far less than what we were able to produce). We rarely had to buy any vegetables from the store because we had more than enough from our own garden. Granted, we weren't the most assiduous of gardeners...the fact that anything really grew was more to luck and size than anything--outside of watering the garden, we didn't do much else to help it out. Still, there was one year that we were giving away pounds of zucchini, and I made a least 6 loaves of zucchini bread so nothing would go to waste. When things grew, they grew in overabundance, but we did what we could to use them all. (On a side note, it wasn't just vegetables we grew--we were also lucky to have several fruit trees: pears, pomegranates, oranges, mulberry...more than enough to keep us going at least for a little while.)
I like the idea of growing plants, cultivating something that will eventually yield food I will gladly consume. Whatever my garden grows probably will not save me a ton of money at the grocery store or result in a bountiful harvest with which I cannot keep up. If I am lucky, I will have enough to get me through the summer, although ideally I would like to have enough to share with family and (if they are interested) friends at work. But perhaps instead of visions of grandeur, I should recognize that this is my first effort, and whatever I do get will be more than satisfying. And it will hopefully teach me what to do better next year!
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