every day is a good day
I spotted this autumn blooming crocus by the steps when I delivered eggs and salad greens to Tweets Café today. It’s too early for the leaves to be changing color, but not too early for the first blooms of autumn.
Saffron is an autumn blooming crocus, but I don’t think the crocus above is a saffron. It takes 50,000–75,000 saffron flowers to glean one pound of saffron.
Sometimes the most unexpected things come out of the garden. Take this magnificent squash. I didn’t plant this. Somehow a seed fell in the right spot and a squash vine began growing in an untended part of the garden this summer. Curious as to what kind of squash it might be, I let it grow, and now there are many ripening squash which will become many dishes through the fall months.
Few plants can match the vigor of squash vines. These are plants, that if you take too long a nap in the garden, may cover you completely by the time you wake up.
We were in Seattle a few days ago, and quiet, residential neighborhoods we used to frequent, where people lived in houses surrounded by spacious gardens, are now high rise apartments which take over entire city blocks. Stacks and stacks of boxy little apartments where thousands of people now live with no daily contact with nature or plants or animals living free. They’ll never experience the wonder of finding a big squash in an untended part of their garden.
Some claim that living in densely inhabited cities is better for the environment. The claim is that city dwellers use fewer resources per person living in densely populated neighborhoods. But it’s difficult to develop a caring attitude towards nature when you can’t touch it or feel it or smell it or taste it all the time.
This is what real food looks like. With produce so fresh and colorful, not eating your greens is never an issue. We were in Seattle today and happened to see a store called Eat Local, which sells prepared dishes which are hand-made in their kitchen, from scratch, using traditional cooking methods and house-made stocks. Customers can purchase the frozen dishes in their stores or have them delivered.
But buying a frozen, pre-made dish is nothing like gathering fresh produce and taking the time to make a meal out of it. With produce like this, processing is minimal and you can have a wonderful meal on the table in ten to twenty minutes, less time than it takes to go to the store and buy something or have it delivered.
And running to the store, you’ll never run into a hen and her chicks curious as to what you’ve picked for supper.
August is ending on a cool, wet, very fall like note. The lettuce are happy. And so is the Rucola Arugula, a slow growing, spicy arugula with deeply lobed leaves. This is a arugula which adds a touch of beauty to any salad.
The Tennouji Kabura are forming their showy white roots which will grow to three to four inches across. You can eat every part of this beautiful turnip. They have a long history and are named after the area around Shitennoji, a temple built in 593. Tennouji is now a ward of Osaka.
The last row of potatoes I planted are in full bloom. In the meantime, the earliest potatoes I planted are ready for harvest. The plants have died and look like nothing, but underneath their shriveled stalks are plump, colorful potatoes. They taste better when you get to dig them up for yourself.
An autumn sky greeted me when I went out this evening to gather eggs, check on the chickens and get some produce for the table. Look at the Dow Purple Pod pole beans. What beautiful color. These are what the world needs more of. How could anyone be sad with such gorgeous, delicious beans in their hands?
The wonderful thing about these purple beans is that their vines and flowers are beautiful too. They are worth growing just for the brilliant color of their vines and flowers. They could be planted at bus stops, in city parks, by telephone poles, and along fences. Their bright green leaves and brilliant purple vines would bring smiles to millions.
In city parks, when their purple flowers are in full bloom, people could have picnics under the vines and toast the colorful blooms. And in late summer when their long, purple pods hang heavy and full with beans, everyone could put on purple clothes to celebrate and gather them. Neighborhoods could close their streets, have block parties and serve dish after dish of purple pod beans.
