shamed into harvesting...

i wouldn't call myself a gardener, per se, though i've been in the experimenting and learning phase of gardening for about 5 years. the place we live in came with a couple of tomato plants (yellow pear i think) and an artichoke plant. i ate some tomatoes, ate an artichoke, and let another one bloom.

in the meantime, our backyard has been transformed into a much more intentional space for growing food. we have garden boxes, wine barrels and other various containers (kid friendly included) to hold food. i even tried my hand at starting food from seeds this year -- something i can't believe i've waited this long to try. it's so easy and soooo inexpensive.
the garden is going strong considering this crazy weather.

when you garden, you realize after awhile that it's sort of a big experiment. is there enough sun where your garden boxes were built, did you water enough, are there drainage holes or did you almost DROWN your tomatoes and so forth. those thoughts are all part of the experiment and learning process.

garden fail!
in the past few years, i have harvested a couple types of lettuce, spinach, a few varieties of tomatoes, artichokes, chives, mint, basil, 1 potato (so far), orange, mandarin orange, strawberries, 1 summer squash, 1 japanese eggplant, snap peas and that's all that comes to mind.

here's where the garden fail comes in. harvesting.
it's easy to identify when something is growing. you see it get taller. you see the fruit or vegetable begin to grow. but you don't necessarily always know when to pick something off the vine or plant. so, while you've read a variety of food i have grown, there's almost and equal number of food that i've grown and not harvested at the right time or at all (kept waiting to harvest but it was too late).

someone that i live with recently told a relative about my gardening process, highlighting my harvesting failures. the relative said, "what a waste" and something along the lines that it would be better to just buy stuff at the store.

when i heard about this conversation, i reflected back on my harvesting failure in a way i hadn't before. it IS a huge waste of money and time to grow food if you don't eat it. it's bad stewardship. i would rather NOT buy food at the grocery store as much as it is possible. it might be a mix between "sticking it to the man" and loving being involved in this process that i was originally meant to do (according to genesis). i feel connected to god and to the earth in ways that are deep and good and satisfying.

BUT what good is it if i am not eating this food that i've lovingly cared for?

so, this conversation led me to a moment of shame and reflection and, most importantly, ACTION. the spinach was about to turn. i had thought about harvesting it but thought it would keep growing (i should have been harvesting it all along, but didn't). with the new decision to step up my harvesting, i read up to make sure i could still harvest my beloved spinach and did. it took a little bit of creativity since i pulled it up right before a 24/7 work week, but it found its way into a salad or two AND it also was prepared as a baby puree. the flavor was different than your average store bought spinach. quite sweet, and a bit bitter (probably from waiting almost too long to harvest). but it was harvested.

i'm spending a lot more time now asking questions and doing research to see when the variety of foods in our garden should be harvested. and this year is going to be big, if the weather holds. i have tomatoes aplenty, chives, melon, oranges (winter), tomatoes aplenty, snap peas, eggplant, mint, pumpkin (fall), strawberries, chocolate mint, parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme, potatoes, pole beans, summer squash, butternut squash, peppers, artichokes, onions, and a few flowers. many of those i started from seed.

and i'm learning new things as we speak. zucchini takes up a lot more space than i was led to believe -- and grows new fruit before you can blink. and they really do prefer growing on a hill or mound. that's just a little bit. and just about zucchini.

i have a feeling that this will be my best year yet. with a little perspective (shame and reflection) and a little bit of help from a little gardener-in-training, i am really excited about this year's HARVEST!