We are at that magical time, where we are getting a lot of locally harvested foods and I absolutely love it simply because of the memories it invokes.
My Mom always had a robust vegetable garden. She grew so many of our vegetables throughout the summer season. Forgive me for listing them, but we always had tomatoes, cucumbers, green beans, zucchini, lettuce, spinach, hot peppers and I know that I am missing so many others. She would then alternate with corn (the squirrels would devour them) and other herbs. And the dreaded Rhubarb (Yuck – still do not like it!)
From a young age, I learned how to pick the vegetables properly so to yield more. There is something of the smell of fresh produce, the sun and soil, which until this day, is so pleasing to me.
Unfortunately, I do not have my Mom’s green thumb and unless we get a mini greenhouse, our backyard’s creatures would destroy any attempts that I could make.
And the best part of having a fresh garden, is eating the produce fresh. Lunch on the week-ends would be spinach, cooked with onions, garlic, and lemon juice wrapped in a piping hot West Indian Roti smothered in butter. No words for how tasty that was.
Or eating tomato choka, which is a West Indian savoury chutney, again with fresh hot roti. The freshness and tastes live on and honestly, have never been recreated for me just because of how fresh the food was.
I wish my kids could have experienced that type of cooking and tastes. Which leads me to my dream one day of learning to grow produce in that manner, so that perhaps, one day, I can share an abbreviated version of those tastes with my kids.
For now, we are enjoying the beautiful apples and the end days of corn. And looking forward to the Fall and Thanksgiving.
But that’s just one Diva’s view.
Diva's View 