School starts Mon. here, and I am wondering where the summer went? I have been busy with gardening, and canning, and holidays, and birthdays, and gardening, and canning, and family re-unions, and Mom's surgery, and babysitting, and gardening, and canning, etc. You get the idea, lol.
I am so thankful for my garden, though. It is wonderful to have enough fresh vegetables to have different ones each night, without having to pay what the grocery stores are asking. And fresh picked tastes so good! I preserve what we can't eat fresh, so this winter when the snows hit and the winds howl, we will have a taste of summer; jars full of sunshine, where I know every ingredient and how it was handled.
As I spend time weeding or picking my garden, I have ample time to think. I am constantly amazed at the way my garden works. Our Creator has been so generous to us. We go through the season in a progression. Early in the spring, lettuce and spinach and green onions are ready to pick. A little later come the strawberries and peas. About the time the strawberries are finished, the raspberries and boysenberries are starting. Broccoli, beets, green beans, tomatoes-each has their time. In the fall we get peaches, pears, apples. We are ensured of having something to harvest all summer long, without having everything ripen at once. Can you imagine if the whole garden ripened at once? There is no way I could preserve a fraction of what I do if it all came on at once. It is hard enough to can a tree full of peaches and another full of pears at approximately the same time, without adding in apricots, cherries, apples, plums, green beans, tomatoes, beets, peas, cucumbers, zucchini, etc., at the same time. There is an order to summer which becomes apparent to one who works in a garden.
I love getting gourmet food from my garden. Fresh bunches of beets, baskets of peas or raspberries, crisp stalks of asparagus; these are things that command a high price, if they are available at all. But I can have an abundance, for the cost of a few seeds or plants, some water, and fertilizer, and some elbow grease. It makes me feel wealthy and incredibly blessed. I certainly couldn't afford to buy the wonderful produce my garden provides me with, even if it was available. What a luxury I have just outside my back door!
Yes, I am busy this time of year. But it is a busyness that is well worth the effort, and makes me feel incredibly blessed. The housework and other projects will wait, for I must show my gratitude for my blessings by making the best use of what I have been given. So forgive me for my sporadic posting. I'll be in the garden.
Vicki
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Sounds like last summer for me! No garden or canning this year. I miss it. It is probably for the best right now though. Plus, I still have TONS of stuff I put up last year. Thanks for stopping by!
ReplyDeleteIt wasn't a very good year for gardens here this time. We did have loads of melons, and a few ears of corn, but that was about it. I had to buy my tomatoes and green beans this time.With our age, our needs are declining, and I do miss every aspect of canning and cooking, but like you've said,Everything comes at it's appointed time. I do enjoy my flower gardens though. I have beem spending every possible moment rearranging them.
ReplyDeleteP.S. I love reading your blog.