I’m picking tomatoes this week. They are waaaay late, but while the rest of the country is either having heat waves or hurricanes, California’s weather has been remarkably dull. 70’s, 80’s with a rare 90 day. Maybe this month will bring more heat, which is exactly what those night shade plants love.
So far this all I have for my winter soups and stews and sauces. Beans have been the best this year along with the squash, cucumbers and onions.
All of this planting, harvesting and preserving has brought on the need to connect my love of the written word with my love of good fresh food. I found this Haiku and thought, “Yes. That is what is in my heart when I plant, then harvest my crops, then store them away for that winter time, when days are short and cold.”
shaking
the packet of seeds
asking, are you still alive?
Kiyoko Tokutomi
When he wrote this poem, he explained that he was saving seeds, with thoughts of planting them in a future time. He writes, “My logical mind says ‘foolish’ but something deep within makes me do it . . . It is . . . symbolic of the human yearning to keep a connection to Nature, to reaffirm the fragile sacredness of life: to simply plant a seed and watch it grow into green–renewal and trust in Nature . . . It’s also symbolic of trust in the future, that the seeds of life remain, for Nature is wiser and will outlast us.”
I suppose I could extrapolate from that and say that taking the “seed” of a story, investing the time and effort to grow it into a piece of work is another way I have of showing my trust in the future.
Hi, I'm a new campaigner. Love gardening. Down here it is winter so garden is running amock!
Love your blog.
Hi, I'm a new campaigner. Love gardening. Down here it is winter so garden is running amock!
Love your blog.
Very impressive haul! Love the look of those canned tomatoes.
We have a country garden. Best of our crop this season? Pumpkins, carrots, parsnips, arugula, collards, cukes and chard. It's so awesome to pick your lunch and dinner, and know that there are no chemicals and no waxes.
Nothing beats tomatoes from the garden…except McIntosh apples from the tree. 🙂 Enjoy.
I have to write all my seeds down in an idea file. Or I forget them!
I wish we could grow tomatoes here. We need a greenhouse if we want to try, but we don't have room for one. 😛
My daughter grows tomatoes. She loves them. She says she grows the best tomatoes ever. Only four and already a green thumb.
I am so jealous of how many tomatoes you must have had! I still have about 30 or so green ones, but I should have had more. Apparently, 14 tomato plants don't like being squished together in a 3×8 plot. I'll know better next year! Here's to the future!
What bounty! It's too cold up here for tomatoes to grow successfully, but that doesn't keep me from trying. Our straggly potted sungold plant has produced three (yes, three!) ripe tomatoes so far. I'm hoping for a few more before the real cold sets in.
Great pictures. I use to love picking, canning, and giving away apple butter and so many other things at Christmas. Now that I'm writing, I can't seem to find the time.
Love those pics. They make me think of past years when my husband gardened. He switches hobbies quite frequently. Since then he's gone on to motorcycling, and now building remote controlled airplanes. Me, I can't even keep houseplants alive. Maybe his interest in gardening will circle back around one of these years.
Yummy. Nothing is better than fresh veggies from your own garden. It looks delicious.
Love that haiku!