The raspberry canes grew so lush from the abundant rains this spring, I had to reach deep into them and pick the berries by touch. When you grow and harvest a crop year after year, you get to know it pretty well, but it struck me as I picked, the ripe fruit was the texture of soft lips, and the berries as sweet as a kiss. Well, maybe that image seems a bit strange, but for me, picking berries under the spring sun in my own back yard became a poetic experience. I love the surprises that happen when I am in the garden, be it poetry or watching the Black Swallowtail butterfly caterpillars munching on fennel plants, then seeing the first butterfly freshly emerged from it’s chrysalis a week later. Or seeing the soil pushed up in little hills knowing it is potato tubers doing the pushing and being glad I don’t have moles or gophers!
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| Serviceberry |
I find a garden a magical place, but a garden with food growing in it makes my soul sing. The plants are giving me (I prefer asking instead of taking) another season of food. Each year the experience is different. This year I will refer to as the lettuce year. I have never had so much beautiful lettuce any other year. Last year my serviceberry tree gave me so many berries I was able to make jam. If you’ve never had serviceberries, they are like tiny blueberries but the small seeds taste like almond. Pretty amazing. Two years ago it was the cilantro year, I didn’t have to buy a bit because the self-seeded plants were everywhere in my garden. This year, not one plant. What happened? I can probably come up with some good reasons, but instead, I am just accepting that the gifts that my garden offers are just that. Gifts. I’m not looking for why, or how to make it better. I’m going to take advantage of what comes my way and give thanks.
If you don’t grow your food you have to gather it at a market of some type. Have you noticed that some things taste better at certain times of the year and are less expensive? This is another way of learning how to take advantage of gifts. Locally grown produce can sometimes cost more because it is more labor intensive, but a farmer wants to sell what he has grown. At certain times of the year some fruit and veggies will be more abundant and therefore cost less. Take advantage of these gifts. Stock up, freeze or can the windfalls. Even better, pick your own. What better way to get closer to nature, to smell the soil, feel the sun that miraculously runs plant engines producing the energy that enables a strawberry plant or an apple tree to produce food we eat. I love to tick off the season by harvest times, strawberries: late May to early June, blueberries: July, all the way through the last apples in October.
Then there is the washing, sorting, canning, and freezing. Touching and smelling the ripe fruit and vegetables awakens all my senses. Once, after harvesting rhubarb, I heard the tension of the water filled stems snapping as they waited on the cutting board for my knife. Another time I was struck by the sunset colors of the peaches I was peeling. Plus, I find such a sense of accomplishment in rows of jars filled with sparkling colors of jam, peaches, tomatoes, sauerkraut. By making my own jam I can lower the amount of sugar making it healthier and with less calories. The last few years I’ve been dehydrating berries. My favorites are blueberries. A tablespoon of dried blueberries is a wonderful snack, and midwinter, it is like summer fireworks going off in my mouth. Blueberry Wow! Dehydrated raspberries make my gluten-free scones amazing.
Yes, I can hear you, it does take a lot of time. It is a choice to be this involved in feeding ourselves. When my sons were little, they helped in the process. They turned the crank on the strainer to make tomato sauce, stuck labels on the cooled jars, washed and sorted fruit and vegetables. They wanted to help, it was what we did. The kitchen was the focus, not the TV. Now I’m not preaching throw out technology, my youngest son just graduated college with a degree in computer science. And here’s the thing, he earned a four year scholarship without being involved in sports, or band, or any other of the myriad extra curricular activities during high school. We did some community activities, but we all preferred the non-structured activities that home provided. We like hiking, and gardening, and the freedom to choose not to keep busy 24/7.
I guess it all comes back to the magic of it. The wonderful experience of meeting farmers and growers, the sensuous experience of growing and preserving food, and the joy of eating the freshest, most delicious food available. I don’t can as much as I used to, but fresh food continues to be an important part of my table. It feeds the senses in ways I can’t put into words, but can be felt body and soul. When you consider the beauty that this process brings into our lives, it is indeed a Sacred Meal.
