a man and his hoe

It’s mid July. Time for the garden to go crazy. What was the big deal with the LSD craze in the 1950s and 60s?

During a 15-year period beginning in 1950, research on LSD and other hallucinogens generated over 1000 scientific papers, several dozen books, and 6 international conferences, and LSD was prescribed as treatment to over 40,000 patients (History of lysergic acid diethylamide).

All you have to do to get your mind blown is lie down between rows of towering corn laced with pumpkin and bean vines. There’s enough color and fantastical shapes and crawling creatures to entertain you all day. Pea and bean blossoms tantalize with their exquisite whites and sensual folds. Arugula blossoms become swarms of butterflies in the breeze. Purple splashed magentaspreen seduces with its deep purples.

Nothing compares to the crazy poppies. Is it any wonder that the Summerians figured out more than 5,000 years ago that this was the joy plant?

New potatoes, potatoes eaten within minutes of plucking out of the ground, are so orgasmically good, that it makes you wonder if it should be legal to sell potatoes that are more than a few days old. Maybe the reason you never see potatoes picked today in grocery stores, is that if they ever sold such potatoes, no one would buy the old ones that they normally sell.

What is special about these very fresh potatoes, is that their skins are thinner and more delicate than a baby’s breath. Gently rub your thumb along them, and the translucent thin skin peels away. The tragedy of modern life is that very few have any idea how delicious food is. If you let potatoes develop to the point that they have a thick skin, and then store them for months before they get shipped to stores and eventually end up on someone’s dinner table, you’ve lost the magic that new potatoes can play on your tongue.

Herbs by the handful, that’s the blessing of a garden. The rosemary bush at the start of the garden path provides more rosemary than I could ever use. Down the path are three more rosemary bushes. I never run out, even in winter. Oregano has taken over a spot in the garden. Thyme, sage, and marjoram flourish with abandon. There is so much mint, it could feed a flock of goats for days.

After living in cities for much of my life, this is one of the great treasures of being able to grow food: fresh herbs by the handful. Food that really tastes. Meals that satisfy.