I walked outside just this morning and the frost covering the dead thatch that overlaid our yard gave the impression of a snow dusting over the dead blades.
The glistening effect was blindingly delightful. Then as I walked around to the back flowerbed, there were my Knock Out rose bushes fully loaded with deep crimson new growth. My yellow and purple irises were several inches tall blowing in the cool morning breeze, snowdrops dotted the wet dirt and mulch, and daffodils were waving their pretty yellow heads. Our peach and plum trees seem to be ready to burst forth with the flowers that will turn into fruit in just a few months.
Spring is close, yet the cool frostiness of the morning is playing havoc with these signs of seedtime and growing season. I am trusting deep down that Mother Nature will not deceive us this year. My mother and grandmother always chose this time of year to plant their cool season crops such as onions, cabbage and most root vegetables. Seeds were started inside for all the garden vegetables. There were no plant nurseries to purchase the plants and they were forced to only grow from seeds.
I have already ordered my special type of garlic that I love to cook with and hope to have it in a big black pot early next week for harvest near the beginning of summer. I have kept my basil, chives, oregano, and thyme thriving in my window sills all winter.
Each year at this time I become somewhat anxious and have most years jumped the gun, so to speak on Mother Nature, resulting on running to the planted area and covering with whatever I could find to protect the tender plants from chill. I want to squeeze every minute of planting and gardening time from each season.
One year I had fresh tomatoes at Christmas as I moved plants, planted in September, from outside to inside so many times that I should have planted them on some type of rollers for easy moving. I was the envy of all tomato enthusiasts and had the unhappy assistance of my husband. I long for the practices and lifestyles of a much simpler life like the ways of our ancestors as they grew their own food and preserved it in a manner in which the taste was always garden-fresh and at its best. There were no “good for you” preservatives added that robbed the delightful tastes as producers use now.
Open up those seed catalogs, forget the Farmers’ Almanac, put on your rubber boots and start digging. Just be sure you have plenty of paper and plastic to cover the tender vegetation when the frost covers the ground like a snow.
We love to use my canned tomatoes to make vegetable soup on the cold winter days. My husband does not like meat in the soup so it is all vegetarian. Begin with the trinity – onion, celery, and carrots diced small and sautéed in a tablespoon of oil. Add a carton of chicken stock, 32 oz. and bring to a boil. Add two cups diced white potatoes, white ones help to thicken soup, one cup butterbeans, one cup niblet corn, one cup creamed corn, and anything you might have as left-overs, and two quarts of home canned tomatoes. Simmer for about 30 to 45 minutes.
Peggy Sims is a local food columnist and resident of Kosciusko.
