Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Winter is here

Hello,

Those last greens in the garden are calling out to be picked. I phoned one of the people I met in the garden last summer. She said she would like to meet me there and named a time. As per my character, I was there about five minutes early. I hunkered down to get out of the icy wind and to pick some of the last arugula that seems not to notice the cold as much as I do. When that was picked I moved on to the broccoli snagging the last little heads that might make a meal for us. Then I moved on and dug up a celery plant looking for a root such as we could buy at the farmer’s market in Slovakia. This root was a rather anemic cousin that might not yield anything eatable.

At this point, keeping my back to the chilly wind, I dug my phone out of my pocket to check the time, it was about five after our designated meeting time. Then I realized that I did not have this woman’s phone number with me and she had my home phone number. I pulled up one more brussel sprout, stuffed it in my large bag that I would carry hanging from the end of my arm. The rest of my bounty was tucked away in my backpack. As the cold was seeping into my being, I decided to walk on home.

The house was a warm haven that I am not so anxious to leave again for a while. I will work on putting some of these pickings in a good storage place. That means washing most of it and some will go in the freezer. 

There are a number of things in front of the house. The collards look wonderful, but I do not believe they will survive the expected cold temperatures. There is also one cabbage, two broccoli plants (I will eat the leaves.), a few carrots, two brussel sprouts that have only babies attached, as well as one kale plant. I suspect I will just pull all of these things, bring them in the house and deal with much of them tomorrow. How many greens can we eat in the next six days? How much can I get into the freezer?

That brave Leroy rode the bike to work today at the museum.  I suspect he will be cold when he gets home in spite of the face mask, hat and gloves.


Paula

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