July's Curse and August's Joy

I have a little garden at my house. Sometime in January when the excitement of the holidays is over and the winter doldrums set in, I start planning what I will plant in the spring. I can hardly wait for the snow to melt before I start tossing in my seeds. Peas! Lettuce! Beans! Broccoli! Cauliflower! And I don't even like cauliflower! Or Peas! A trip to Andersen's for seeds and starts is an early birthday treat. May flies by and each week I add a new row of plants or two to the garden. I drag the kids out to the garden every morning to see what's sprouted. June comes and I still haven't lost my steam. Weeds pop up, but I quickly pull them right out. I have an absurd pleasure in uprooting weeds. Must be a hold-over from my many years of rye-pulling. In June, my first harvests are ready. Strawberries, lettuce, and peas. I even eat a few peas just for the joy of eating my own harvest.

And then July hits with a vengeance. We have this little family tradition of heading off to Yellowstone in between first and second crop hay season, which is all fine and good...except for when I come home. What a pitiful sight my garden is year after year when we return. Amazonian strength weeds have overtaken. I think someone must sneak in and plant them while I am away - or at least sneak them a heavy dose of fertilizer. I start the battle right away, but it seems like I will never win. I start rattling off the story of "The Little Red Hen," in the hopes it will inspire my children to help, but let's be honest. How much help is it for a 3- and 5-year-old to help weed the garden? And the heat. Oh the insufferable heat! I'm a morning person, but not a start-weeding-at-5:00 morning person. It's a bit discouraging, to put it mildly.

But then, just when I am ready to call it quits, August rolls around. Finally! Fresh vegetables every day. I can't pick them fast enough. I can't preserve them fast enough. I just can't keep up and quickly fall behind, but I don't mind a bit.

How can you mind when you get to eat a fresh tomato & basil sandwich for lunch every day? And have your pick of fresh beans or broccoli for dinner at night?

The best part of all - the squash and pumpkin vines are flourishing, which means no room for weeds to grow! Hooray! The heat is so much more tolerable when you are harvesting in it rather than weeding in it.

I love my little garden. I'm a farm girl at heart and while my dad and brother roll out their combines for harvest time, I put myself to work in my own little patch of earth. Sometimes I miss harvest time on the farm. There is great joy in reaping the rewards of what was sown. I'm glad I get a little taste of it. Anyone want to come for lunch? It's all fresh.

P.S.- If you are wondering, yes Floyd helps with the garden. He runs the tiller. Loves his powerful tiller. He usually helps with the planting - makes much straighter rows than I do. Sometimes he pulls a few weeds too. And he never misses out on the eating.