Green Fields

It's a windblown day on the mesa with storm clouds scudding across the Buttermilk's. It's been an unusual June with more rain than usual and cooler temperatures and the grass in the fields surrounding the mesa is thick and knee high. All the cows and horses are happily grazing on the lush growth.


I think of the green fields of Massachusetts today. Our family farm in Western Mass. was a farmers dream. The soil was black and rich and everything would grow in profusion. Out here on the mesa we do our best with planters, soil and manure infused beds and lots of spirit! We've broken a few shovels on the dirt they call soil here! We celebrate rocks here on the mesa incorporating them into rock gardens and use boulders as focal points. We stack them and make walls and the lizards use them as sunning spots and do their funny push ups on them.


Back to Massachusetts and my childhood...My father had a special talent with roses. In fact my maiden name was Rosell which had to do with roses. We had old roses growing on the picket fence in the yard and roses in beds. We also had old lilac bushes against the barn- white and purple and a stand a good 20' in diameter elsewhere on the property. The scent was heavenly. Just picture our back yard with apple and pear trees lining it, a raspberry patch, an asparagus patch and a crop of potatoes for our own home use, a prolific garden everywhere else. Every 4Th of July would find me and my friends shelling bushels of peas for canning and freezing. We are Swedish, so we'd always make saft- a thick fruit juice that we'd bottle for drinks (non-alcoholic) and syrups. We did it all. Waste not want not was our motto.
We'd have sauerkraut-making parties with our neighbors and put it up in large crocks. We'd do some pickling the same way, make a party out of it. We'd have lots of desserts to nibble on too.
There is something to be said for sharing and conversation and the successful outcome of such a homely project. It wasn't work to us...it was fun!
We have eleven tomato plants, more than half are heirloom varieties, in containers. We have tomatillo's and a variety of peppers in beds; lettuce, beans, a lone eggplant, and zucchini squash all in planters and a small herb garden with essentials near the back door for easy clipping. Its been years since we've had a decent garden. Hopefully we'll have a good yield and then maybe we'll have a party to make salsa, tomato sauce or pickles with our family and friends and
start a new harvest tradition all over again and even if we don't... we'll still have a party and celebrate being together.