This Morning’s Haul

I was worried that I’d crowded my Japanese eggplants in the bed. I needn’t have been concerned. The 7 plants are in a bed 30” wide and 5 ft. long. We picked 51 of them on Sat. morn, just before the photo was taken. I could have picked another dozen, but I’ll get them tomorrow and another 30-40 in addition. They grow fast. Each plant produces over 100 of the lovelies over the season.

I’ll use about 200 of them in making 50-60 lbs. of Eggplant Parmesan. I make about 20 lbs. at a time, cut it into 1 lb. squares right in the pan after it’s cooked. I put the whole pan right in freezer, pop it out and wrap the individual one lb. pieces, and it’s totally a comfort food meal throughout the winter. We just heat it up one of the 1 lb. squares, and in January or February, there’s no finer dinner.

The corn is always a problem. I only plant 40 seeds in the 5’ x 8’ bed, which gives us about 100 ears—but it all comes ready over about a 10 day period. We don’t much like frozen or canned corn, so we feast on it every night for those 10-14 days. That leaves about 60 ears for our daughter’s family.

What about all the cucumbers? Melissa has made about 30 quarts of various kinds of pickles—the best!

Yellow zucchini is everybody’s favorite, so I planted 3 seeds early in a bed 5’ by 8’. The 3 plants are so big that it’s hard to walk on the sidewalk around them, and one side is completely cut off. We’ve taken at least 100 lbs. from the 3 plants.

This year I planted about 20 pole bean seeds. We’ve taken about 15 lbs. already, and the plants haven’t yet reached their peak. Pepper, our dog, is a green bean freak! He loves all the vegetables, but picking beans with him nearby—and he’s always nearby, is an ordeal. He fixates on what you’re doing with an intensity it’s almost scary. He dances around, focused, and makes it very clear that he wants nothing more than one of those beans. It’s impossible to not give him 2 or 3 during the course of a bean harvest.

If you aren’t growing a few-or literally tons of vegetables like I, you might be surprised at the enormous array of personal rewards that come with growing your own pure, fresh food.