The Culinary Garden Hoe

Beans (Lima & Snap)

Beets

Canteloupe

Chard

Corn

Cucumber

Eggplant

Greens

Okra

Southern Peas (Black-eye, etc)

Peppers

Pumpkin

Radish (early month)

Summer Squash

Tomato

Watermelon

I have this quirky thing about planting things in honor of people that we’ve lost. I guess my first planting was a Bay Laurel for my Paw Paw, the next a pomegranate for my friend Courtney and so on. I have far too many now, and guess as I get older the population will only increase.

My Granny Barsch and I used to watch Julia Child on PBS. We Loved that show. And, if you’ve read earlier blogs you know what a fantastic cook my Granny was.

After we lost Granny the “Julia Child Rose” was introduced. It was so perfect to remember her. Yellow roses, her favorite. In fact Paw Paw bought her a yellow rose bush one year as an anniversary present.

The most amazing thing about this rose that I planted in hononr of her, it always blooms profusely around my grandparents  Anniversary date, April 15th and again on her birthday, October 6th. Such a perfect timing.

Years ago, after my Paw Paw’s passing we were travelling West to stay with her for a couple of days. I saw these beautiful little pink blossoms along the highway. Jim pulled over and I cut some to take to her as flowers. I guess much like a small child would. Bless her heart she saved those flower heads until they dried, and sent them back to me as,”Becky’s Pink Flowers”. I spread them through the yard a couple of years ago, two days ago they ”finally bloomed” behind her Julia Childs rose. Some things are meant to be.  She still remembers us, as we do her. Happy Birthday!              

Happy Birthday!  We miss you. Please give the Old Fart a kiss from me.

This is our little girl, Jezebel – or as we call her Jezzie. Such a sweet, smart funny girl. As Jim would say, a cartoon character of a dog. We’ve learned many lessons along the way about gardening with dogs, and I’ll share those later, yes there is hope.

There is a particular place in our yard that has pretty much been growing with Artichokes, Oregano and Swiss Chard since our little girl came to live with us. While the artichokes were dormant, I dug out the old swiss chard to revitalize and get ready for Fall. She’s never been much of a digger, but always observant of others. I’ve watched her expressions many times as she watched us, and her brother Coletraine, learning new things all the while. For example, for the first 6 months that she lived with us, she would never do her “business”  in public. She would wait until we got home, run to the backyard and you know the rest. I’ve learned the expressions of this

beautiful face, and can almost always guess what is going on in her mind. After observing Coal, she learned to hike her leg. OK, she’s built different so it’s more of a backward hike, not sideways – but she’s learned to forward her Pmail.  Wish I had a video, it’s hilarious to watch.

When we first got her from the Williamson County Animal Shelter, she was approximately a year old, very skittish around men (with the exception of our neighbor Scott – her boyfriend. I was lucky enough to have most of my days available to be close by. BUT, when I went back to work at night, MAJOR separation anxieties came into play. I’m always a little hesitant to put psychiatric terms onto humans, let alone animals, but she was perfectly fine here with us, upon Leaving -the leather sofa, rather expensive rugs became chew toys. I tried the whole this is your toy, this is mine routine. Finally we came up with the idea of setting an “agility” course for her, jumping over objects, cutting back, you know the routine. And it worked. She no longer eats the furniture.

Coal our first born a beautiful LAB-X, who will turn 13 this month  decided  this Summer that he would like to lay in the stretch of Ginger under the breezeway close to the house. And that’s fine, he’s earned the right to lay his tired bones down in the cool dirt, and I can give up the 2′x2′ area that is now a hole, as long as he doesn’t tear up anymore. But, again, the quizzical look from Jez, ahhhhhh – if he’s digging maybe I can dig in this patch that used to inhabited with vegetables I don’t eat. I set out to re-plant the patch last week, and set up some small bamboo barrier fencing to protect the seedlings until they would be big enough. I looked over at her as she lay in the pathway, on the other side of the new fence. I saw this expression on her face, much like the picture above and read her mind – “Mama don’t you wish you hadn’t given me those home schooled agility classes now”. Hah. She may have the last laugh, but so far she is staying out.

So for lessons learned:

1. Dogs run perimeters. It’s their innate nature to protect and see what’s going on outside. We have to appreciate that and give them the space to do so. Build pathways for them to run and plant in front of that.

2. If needed build “windows” into the fencing to allow them to see out. Jim came up with this idea when our first daughter Scout was with us. Great Great Girl, we love you always. She was quite the escape artist, because she couldn’t see what was beyond the fence, and HAD to find out. After several free rides home from the pound and once by a policeman we had to come up with a solution. The windows on the world worked.

We have to try and be smarter than the animals. Not always the case. Never the less, appreciate your babies/animals and the other creatures. We all serve a purpose.

3. The Most Important! Enjoy your babies, human, canine, feline, equine for everything that they bring to your life. They will definately return the love hundred fold.

I have many things to share, the water collection system, the new outdoor office. But, what strikes me as most important is to share the importance of food and cooking in our family. I’m thinking particulary of my Granny Barsch tonight. We had Barbequed Chicken, Coleslaw, and Corn on the Cob. I think of my Granny quite often, I think very often when I’m cooking. She was an incredible cook, she could take very little and turn it into a banquet beyond belief.

It’s really very weird, we had a chicken that Jim decided should become BBQ chicken, with leftover ingredients in our fridge, he turned it into a very close replication of what I remember barbeque chicken as a child, a little sweeter, but that was part of what was in the fridge. I always believe my Granny’s coleslaw to be the best she always added “different” things, things out of the ordinary for West Texas, Bell Pepper, Sour Cream, sometimes celery seed. BUT, she made the best cole slaw I have ever tasted. I did a replication of her recipe tonight, I didn’t have sour cream, but I did use plain yoghurt. I think she and my Paw Paw could have sat down, had dinner with us tonight and be very pleased and proud that they had done well.

I’m very blessed with great cooks in my family and will share in the future. My Granny Perkins, my Aunt Esther, Aunt Winnie, and my Mama.

Baby Duck! I called Jim so happy, “There is a baby duck in the garage!” His response was as if the phone reception was bad. So again, I repeated…………

“How did a a baby duck get into our garage and what are you going to do with it?” My answer, “We’ll raise it” Jim, “We’re going to eat it?” Again, bad phone reception. There is an old vet down the street that takes in all kinds of animals. I love driving home at night after a good rain and watching the ducks splash around in front of his clinic. It’s a great place to drive by, you never know what you will see; calves, sheep, the huge old Tom Turkey, and always goats. There is an old sloped  roof barn with a beautiful Red Bud that stands in front. So my guess is that some 5 blocks later the babies got separated from their Mama.

In my excitement over the duckling, I closed the door between the garage and breezeway to separate it from  Coal and Jezzie. I forgot how small a duckling could “become”. He managed to squeeze under the doorway, and so when I came back in after calling Jim, our little duckling was “Muerto” I was very disappointed in my babies. I know they are not killers, they do so well with small children, dogs, old people. I had always thought that unless you were a squirrel or a thief you were safe. I know it’s instinct, but still it was a baby. I did have one more pop his head under the door. I shooed him back in, and secured the door with bricks. If I find him, I’ll return him to the vet. As much as this is a happy home, apparently not so much for Fowl. I was sad that they had killed the baby, but disappointed that if they killed it, why didn’t they eat it.

Part 1 of the Paradox: I don’t eat a lot of meat, but what I do – I enjoy. OK, yea, I stomp the snails, cockroach, swat or obliterate a fly or mosquito and No, I don’t eat them. I’m sure they are beneficial to the balance of life, I would prefer if they could balance it somewhere else. The only edible creatures I’ve killed would be lobsters, clams, mussels, oysters. The the last three don’t move a lot, and don’t really make any noise – and so it seems almost too easy. The lobster – well honestly it doesn’t bother me too much as they are cannibals. I remember as a small girl watching my uncle slaughter and dress a hog. I didn’t eat pork for years. But, how I love Bacon now! When I teach at Le Cordon Bleu, Austin there is a video we show about the beef industry. Actually the entire process of how the calves come in, slaughtered, skinned, butchered and shipped out. It’s actually very graphic, some students scream, cry, leave the room, sit and take it all in, and some laugh; more disturbing than the video itself. But, the lesson I try and teach, if you are going to take the life of something, whether it be animal or vegetable: Enjoy and appreciate what you have consumed. Respect the Food!

The beautiful thing about vegetables, you can cut lettuce, greens, herbs, pick beans or tomatoes, the more you consume the more they produce. Some things like beets, radishes, carrot and turnips, once you pull up – they are gone. Just enjoy and appreciate. Respect the Food!

The Paradox:  I hate to kill, but love to eat

The Lesson:    Respect the Food!