A Gardener's Lament

It’s happened again. I am re-reading Tender by Nigel Slater, a beautiful book about growing and cooking vegetables. Slater lives in London and grows fruits and vegetables in his backyard. The chapter titles are vegetable names, arranged in alphabetical order. The first chapter is asparagus, and right off the bat, I am aggravated, yea verily infuriated by the suggestion of pairing asparagus with fresh roasted tomatoes. Are you kidding me? I don't know about London, but in northern Illinois, there are a good four weeks between the end of asparagus season and the first blush of red on a tomato, and a cherry tomato at that. It’s closer to 6 weeks before even the Early Girls will begin to ripen. And then it hits me: I have gone around the bend.

It’s not that I think it is bad to buy vegetables at the grocery. I don’t judge those that do. Part of it is the vast difference in quality. I offer as evidence the time I gave a perfectly ripe cantaloupe that had separated from the vine of its own free will just that morning to my friend Kim. She later remarked with a good deal of sarcasm, “Thanks a lot! You have ruined grocery store cantaloupe for me forever.”

Most of it, however, is that I just forget that it’s possible. I have been gardening so long that the seasonality of produce has infiltrated my world view. Asparagus with tomatoes? Absurd! After asparagus, radishes are next, followed by lettuce and peas. At some point during the winter, I have an epiphany that I could, in fact, have a fresh salad if I would just pick up some lettuce at the grocery. It’s not as good, but in the midst of dreary February, something green is better than nothing.

I am the same way about eggs. When the hens are slacking off, my mother has been known to buy eggs. Hilda is retired and cooks eggs for breakfast sometimes. I don’t have time for that. I eat my breakfast (usually a muffin) in the three minutes between pouring hot water over tea leaves and straining the resulting tea into my sippy cup. Thus, when egg production is low, I just wait. There will be more eggs in a day or two. Buy eggs? Ridiculous.

Spring continued for most of a very pleasant week. More and more butterflies emerge. This red admiral was sunning itself on the patio furniture.

Red admiral on the back of a patio chair

When I mowed last weekend, I scared up a duck from the Nanking cherries. Odd place for a duck, I thought, right there next to the road. Later in the week, Terry told me there was a nest there with 11 blue-green eggs. Although he did not want me to disturb the female again, I had to get a picture.

11 duck eggs on the ground beneath the Nanking cherries

Thursday morning, I drove by slowly to see if I could spot the duck. I thought I saw a duckling running around in the brush. That evening, however, all the eggs were still in the nest. I got a good look at the mom when she flew away and identified her as a mallard. I was hoping for a wood duck. Mallards are so ordinary. I hope she knows how far she’s going to have to walk those ducklings to get to water. It would be very cool to be home when she begins the parade, but the likelihood is not high.

I’m thinking if a duck has eggs under the Nanking cherries by the road, that fox I saw two weeks ago does not live around here. Must have been just passing through. That’s both a relief and a disappointment.

The weather changed yesterday, which was notable for being not only the first farm-to-table food of the year but also a late-season blizzard. Before the snow started, I ran out to pick some rhubarb to make rhubarb coffee cake.

Farm-to-table rhubarb coffee cake (with leftover rhubarb)

I can never get the right amount of rhubarb. Because the weather was about to turn nasty, I ended up with exactly twice what I needed. I am left with half a pound of rhubarb and no plans for what to do with it. I put it in a bag in the rotting bin (a.k.a. vegetable crisper drawer). Eventually I will find it either dried up or molded and swilly, and I will put it in the compost.

I hope this is the last snow storm. Terry is glad for the moisture, as April and May are critical months for tree growth, which won’t happen without water. April has been unusually dry. The snow started about 10:30 but didn’t start sticking until late afternoon. By dinner, visibility was low and the snow was piling up rapidly. Still, I was surprised to find at least 5” of accumulation when I walked out to put the girls to bed. I am worried about the duck nest. I didn’t check on it because I didn’t want the hen to fly off and leave the eggs to get cold. I’ll check when it gets warmer.

Blizzard conditions in the evening--5" of accumulated snow

The sun came out this morning, and most of the snow melted by mid-afternoon.  We’re supposed to be in for a rainy week. Soon Terry will be complaining about the flooding. Never happy, that man.