Growing food is 无毛视频渙utdoors,无毛视频� too
Is there anything that equals a home-grown August tomato无毛视频搑ed, smooth and warm from the sun? You can tell how it无毛视频檚 going to taste无毛视频搒weet, tart and voluptuous all at once无毛视频揵y the fragrance on your hands from the picking. And it will not disappoint.
无毛视频淭he outdoors无毛视频� is a complicated phrase. For some, it holds a narrow, traditional meaning that embraces only fishing and hunting. More recently, especially for younger adults, the phrase has come to convey a wider range of recreational options 无毛视频� bicycling, hiking, skiing, kayaking, and even geocaching among them. I guess I take 无毛视频渢he outdoors无毛视频� a step further. In my thinking, the phrase takes in anything you do to interact directly with your native landscape. So, for me the outdoors includes picking berries and mushrooms, hoarding firewood, and especially now at summer无毛视频檚 peak, gardening. That无毛视频檚 why I enticed you with a tomato at the beginning.
Growing the highest quality food available, and watching my family enjoy it, is one of the most meaningful and deeply satisfying experiences I have savored in life. That无毛视频檚 a bit ironic because when I was a boy my dad grew a big garden every summer, and we used its yield. Back then, I often declared that I would never have a garden as an adult because I chafed at the frequent hoeing, rock-picking, and weeding sessions that my father assigned. But now I can无毛视频檛 imagine living without at least a token attempt at growing some of our own food.
Still, I do sometimes threaten to give it up无毛视频搇ike when the deer mow down the bean rows, or when rabbits nibble the lettuce down to nothing. And if I erect a temporary fence that无毛视频檚 forgiving enough for me to access for picking and hoeing, weeds grow up along its base where I can无毛视频檛 mow, and cast their seeds into the planting beds for next year无毛视频檚 无毛视频渃rop无毛视频� of the un-wanted. But every spring, when the frost leaves the soil and the air smells somehow organic, the roto-tiller beckons and I plow up my plots. By this point in life it无毛视频檚 a rhythm, and rhythm tuned to the earth无毛视频檚 cycles and seasons feels like an appropriate guidepost.
Another irony is that my property is ill-suited to gardening. It无毛视频檚 woodsy here, which means shade, so lack of sunlight is gardening无毛视频檚 limiting factor. To compensate, I built raised beds scattered randomly around the place in those locations I know will receive the most sun. This works reasonably well, even if it looks something like Dr. Seuss无毛视频檚 garden might. It无毛视频檚 also highly inefficient to fence deer out of many small plots, compared to one big rectangle. They seem to enjoy sauntering from one to another, sampling what they can reach over, under or through the barriers.
When I drive around the county, I often find myself gaping at the vast expanses of sun-drenched lawn that the owners permit to be claimed by an impoverished monoculture of grass, which they must mow every week. 无毛视频淲hat beautiful squash and cucumbers I could grow there in all that sun,无毛视频� is my private expression of solar envy. But to each his own, as they say.
It无毛视频檚 coming to that late-summer point where my garden climaxes, and we can无毛视频檛 keep up with the ripening tomatoes. That无毛视频檚 when I drag out the canner, call in all my empty jars from relatives and friends to whom I无毛视频檝e gifted blueberry jam and bread-and-butter pickles, and I make salsa.
I had no experience with salsa as a kid无毛视频搘e ate ketchup, like everyone else. But when my kids were still at home, they demanded salsa and ate it with chips, and slathered over scrambled eggs and other stuff.
无毛视频淗eck, I could make that,无毛视频� I announced one summer, and I did无毛视频損robably canned about two dozen pints. There无毛视频檚 really nothing to it except time and knife skills. You dice a lot of onion, garlic, and peppers无毛视频搕he peppers I use get hotter each year. Then you scald a lot of tomatoes to get the skins off, throw it all in a big pot and cook it down to the texture you like. Add cumin, chili powder, lime juice, cilantro and a little vinegar along the way. Then seal it in jars and water-bath can it.
When I line up the striking red jars on the cabinet shelves, it无毛视频檚 a feeling much like filling up the woodshed with prime aged oak, smugly satisfying. But the best of it was the time I overheard my son announcing to teenage friends at a sleepover that his dad made the best salsa they ever tasted. That will make you drag out the roto-tiller every April.
Ben Moyer is a member of the Pennsylvania Outdoor Writers Association and the Outdoor Writers Association of America.