garden child

This morning, I was at brunch with my friends when I compared my garden to a child. I said it kind of without thinking, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized I liked this analogy. It requires me to take care of it every day and some times I feel resentful that it is demanding of my time. Don't get me wrong, I love it. But sometimes, I feel resentful that I spend my entire weekend preserving, picking, weeding, planting, etc. (I would also generally include watering in that, but let's be real here. I have not water in almost a month because of the flooding). 

Good thing I harvested those potatoes when I did because those puddles in my backyard garden are where some  of them were planted.

Regardless of these moments of resentment, I do love my garden child. I love what it brings forth. I love that I learned so much this season about growing. I love that I can grow juicy fruit in Kansas that I can enjoy over the sink while it drips off my hands and chin. 

I love that I came back from my garden today with an entire 5 gallon full of produce.

This was the stuff I dreamed about last season.

I love that I did not have to buy a single onion for them grocery store or farmer's market for months because I finally decided to try growing them, (which was so easy).

Because of the large amounts of water, I decided to pull all of them. Since I don't have a dry, cool place to store them, I chopped them up and filled 2 large freezer bags to enjoy throughout the fall and winter.

I love that. 

I also love that my green bean plants have had a second life. I almost pulled them a week ago because I thought they were done. Nope. On Tuesday, I picked an entire plastic grocery bag full and actually did the exact same thing this afternoon. Every time I think, surely, this is the last time. But nope. They keep going. This is such a great surprise. Previously, I really wanted to do a fall crop of beans but it is too wet to plant. (Though today, I went out in the garden and just stuck bean seeds straight into the ground. I have no idea if they will try coming up or not). Thankfully, I am still getting a lot and might have enough to help me "survive the winter." 

And I love that what is not doing well in my garden, I can get at the farmer's market. I planted a watermelon plant this spring, but due to the weeds, it did not have a very good beginning. (It looks great now, but it doesn't have anything on it). Thankfully, this past Tuesday also brought back the presence of the "watermelon man" at the farmer's market. Yum. 

No, this is not a bowling ball. It's a watermelon. 

Yeah, I guess my garden child isn't too bad after all. Now, if only I can find some motivation to want to stem all those green beans in the fridge...