…just barely.
I would have loved to have eaten or processed all the food in this photo the same day I picked it and hauled it up the hill stairs, but it will wait a couple of days in the fridge until I can. Life and work is hard right now and I’m grateful for a small (but productive) garden that only requires a little daily attention.
Best garden I’ve ever had, my whole life. Can’t ever remember hauling baskets and trugs of loot into the kitchen like this, have always been grateful for every tiny handful plucked from a few square inches. This bounty makes my heart roar with hard-earned satisfaction.
This weekend’s haul:
Turnips: 3 lbs 11 oz
French zuchinni: 5 lbs 13 oz
Pole beans: 2 lbs 11 oz
Carrots: 2 lbs 6 oz
Beets: 2 lbs 3 oz
Beet greens, chard: big bunch
Red Russian kale: big bunch
Plums: 4 lbs 6 oz
A lot of food. I’m swimming in fresh food.
Bear is on travel for a few weeks, halfway around the world on an aircraft carrier teaching young kids how to troubleshoot and fix electronics. I am glad he’s not here this month, as work is crushing my head into a flat, stupid pancake, and I am spending way too much time at just trying to keep up. This is a sign of the rightness of my choice to exit stage left in 16 short months. My professional sharpness has faded, the farmer in me wants out, and my brain is tired of struggling to map out strategies for an enterprise I’m no longer committed to.
The young folks, I remain passionately committed to. So much so, it brings me to tears sometimes in front of them when they “get it” and find their power to change their corner of the Navy. The enterprise, the unit, I could give a shit less about.
But my garden elates me.
Thistledog's Farm 
I chose the name of my blog with care and for a reason. If anyone had asked me three years ago if I would experience any sad feelings upon retiring, I would have said, “probably”., but at the time, I didn’t even give retirement much thought. Now? Nope. I despise AT&T and am almost counting the days until I retire. I hope that I can last until the end of next year. In your case, the farmer is emerging. In my case, it is the artist and tree-hugger. I’m thoroughly enjoying discovering what the plants on my property in Virginia are telling me about soil moisture and fertility.
Lovely harvest and lovely post of your gathered thoughts! Here’s to 16 months to fly by!
Thank you, moh –
Your garden and so many others like it are my inspiration! To feed ourselves through the year from our own agricultural efforts is surely a skill worth honing.
And the 16 months is indeed flying by…