06/10/2021 – J-Dub's Grin and Bear It

We have a garden again this year. We sat out 2020, not due to Rona but we needed to take a year off to replenish the soil with some mineral treatments. In 2019, we had a dismal year garden-wise. The little square raised area we have isn’t big enough for crop rotation which is why eventually we had to do that soil maintenance.

And what a difference a year makes. New dirt, tilled with minerals did the trick. The rains helped too. 2021 has been particularly wet in these parts ending our water restrictions for the first time in a while. Some think our aquifer is limitless and the whole water restriction policy is a joke. But I’m not paying mind to conspiracy theories. These thoughts are moving onto more produce minded notions.

I LOVE growing groceries. Our summer garden consists of zucchini – bountiful but it’s run is done. We gave away quite a bit and froze some for later use. I have baked four loaves of chocolate zucchini bread this season. We’ve also had zucchini sautéed, baked, and fried into fritters. After this week we’ll take a break from zukes for a while. In place of the zukes, we have cukes aka cucumbers.

The tomatoes are slow to start and we hope the squirrels don’t get the few we have before we do. Nothing as good as homegrown tomatoes. I’d rinse ’em off with the garden hose and eat ’em straight off the vine. Yummy yum yum!! And to think as a kid, tomatoes grossed me out. An acquired taste, to a favorite bite.

The jalapenos aren’t doing anything. A mystery as to why? But every year there’s at least one that doesn’t make it. The plants are still there and look really good just no blossoms. B isn’t sure if he’ll pull them or just see what happens.

Backing up to cucumbers, we’ve made a quick pickle or two. First time for everything. And those quick pickles taste so GOOD! If you like sour dill that is and we do! We usually can pickles the old school way. Which is way more work than it’s worth … to me. B enjoys canning, says it isn’t work, it’s fun! This year he made five jars – two hot and three regular. Smaller batch than usual but the cukes keep coming in and there’s tons of blooms still left on the plants. Maybe he’ll take a second run at putting up a few more jars. The quick stuff will tide us over until the first five he canned are ready later this week.

Oh how I miss my Mamaw and my parents. They would so enjoy some of the fruits of our labor. All grew up on farms, growing their own groceries back in the day. Their legacy lives on. This post was a longer than usual reflection. I’m compelled to write all this down. The good-hearted warm memories. To mark our mundane personal history.