Harvest Time |
Do you ever wonder if it's all worth it? We work so hard at being a good parent. How often do we get that feeling of total satisfaction, that we've done enough, the job's complete, it worked out perfectly, and everyone is content? Parenthoodhood ecstasy. Think about it. I mean really think. Does this emotion overwhelm you on a daily basis? Weekly?....Monthly?.....Can you remember the last time you felt this way?
Every year I try to put in some sort of vegetable garden. There is no "gardening ancestry" in my family so everything I learn is by book or trial and error. This past spring my husband and I were extremely busy so it was a complete miracle that we even got our garden planted. We do the regular; tomatoes, beans, carrots, and snow peas which I've found do extremely well in my backyard. I've been yearning to try potatoes. I made a special trip back to the gardening supply store last spring to buy a bag of seed potatoes where they were also kind enough to give me complete planting instructions. The planting procedure is more complicated than for regular seeds. First you cut the potatoes into pieces that contain at least one "eye". Each "eye" must be planted 4-7 inches deep which requires a lot of digging. Is this worth it?
We watched our potato plants grow over the summer. It was just killing my 10 year old not to be able to "see" if there were really any potatoes growing.( I felt the same way!) "Mommy, please can I just dig up one plant and take a look, PLEASE!!!!" He had secretly been pulling up carrots all summer to "test" them! My other two(ages 5 and 7), were oblivious to the growing potatoes and busy eating raw beans and snow peas!
Finally, the weekend before Thanksgiving, I announced it was time to harvest the potatoes. Armed with shovels and about 6 other neighborhood kids, we made our way to the garden. Everyone was so excited! You'd think Santa himself was going to be there! When the potatoes started popping up from underneath the earth, their eyes began popping out of their heads! I decided to just stand back and watch......The older ones dug as the younger ones snatched up the bounty! Co-operation was the order of the day. The potatoes themselves were golden nuggets of perfection. The children squealed with glee and ecstasy as more and more popped up. "Hey, look at that big one.... don't forget the baby potatoes.....Mommy, can we eat these with our Thanksgiving dinner?"
Their pleasure was my gratification. I was enjoying one of the most rewarding moments of parenthood....Complete contentment. This was worth it all. This is what it's all about. If this moment had actually been "planned", it couldn't have turned out so well.
When we were sure there were no other treasures left in the earth and they were all sorted by size (teeny tiny baby ones, medium ones and large), we took them over to the hose to be washed. This was a delightful experience too!
It was my sheer pleasure to cook supper that evening. I took the baby potatoes, which ranged in size from small marbles to maybe the size of a toonie, and roasted them in the oven with a touch of margarine. They were almost as fun to eat as they were to harvest!
