Greenjeans Farm

September is almost gone, I am staring at a bushel basket of basil, a bushel basket of tomatoes, a bushel basket of beans, a bushel basket of crooked neck squash and thinking I would rather write tonight.  The wee hours of the morning are better spent on putting things up when it’s 100 degrees at 2pm.  It’s cool and quiet then, with nobody running in and out of the kitchen.  I have a reverence for food, and if I can’t give it my whole attention I would just as soon give it away or leave it out in the garden. 

My mother’s family was a German/ Irish bunch.  And my fathers family French / Norwegian!  At the Hellwig’s and Weller’s there was always cabbage, root vegetables, potatoes and roasts, good substantial meals.  At the Sorensen’s and DeSelle’s, you could bet on fresh fruit and cream and wonderful roasted things with delicate herbs.   I loved it all.  From the Raspberries and cream my Pa DeSelle used to feed me for breakfast, to the wilted cabbage and wonderful spice cookies Aunt Memo used to make us.  All my relatives were either directly from or one generation away from Europe.  AND I had an Italian Uncle Frank who was my best uncle!   They all came to the United States to make a life and they all ended up on the west coast! 

There was always someone cooking up a mess of beans.  There was always someone putting up a batch of jam or jelly.  There was ALWAYS someone trying to make me try yams in a way that would not make me throw up!

Then there were the neighbors, Hispanic, Eastern European, Texans!  As kids we used to run around to each others houses eating our way through the day, until the street lights came on and our mothers started calling us home.   Summer was always the best time for food.  In my book it beat out Thanksgiving!  Everybody had the same stuff on Thanksgiving! 

We have had three children graduate college this year.  It has played havoc with the CSA.   Both of our oldest boys graduated as Jurist Doctorates and my Daughter as an Ag Major, and we have a high school student who is well on his way to college.  They all have jobs and life is good.  The past three weeks in the middle of May which is my planting time has been a little nerve wracking on me the planter and organizer.  Lots of friends and parties and kegs of beer and graduations!  Do not get me wrong, I enjoy being a mother and I can party with the best of them.  But as I said before I am a planter and an organizer.  I planned my family.  3 years apart worked for me.  It didn’t work for them.  I like to think one can plan.   They all came to it in their own time and we have one more to go!   But to me it is like opening up a gift every day of the year to be able to talk to and love your kids.  My most fun times were when they were all 3 – 9 years old.  All of our children are way on the other side of that, and they are still totally fun   Each has a gift that is unique and a total surprise.  Each interaction means something.  If I could leave my kids with 10 to do’s in life I think this would be It. 

1. Say your rosary each morning.  This is something fundamental that I know. 
2. Laugh every day. The world is full of funny stuff.  Even if it is just your cat or dog, or you.  It’s a lot of fun to laugh. 
3.  Love somebody alot, Sex is good!  A friend is better.  Know someone who loves you for all your warts and whiskers and loves you just the same. 
4. Wake up early and enjoy the morning! Take your time getting to work, eat breakfast every day,  but be there on time!
5. Never turn down a great cup of coffee, ever.
6.  Shut up a lot, nobody really wants to know what you think. 
7. Listen, and ask, you learn a lot more that way, if you engage people in what they know.
8. Pay your bills on time.
9. Don’t be afraid when the wind blows, sometimes an umbrella turned inside out can become a great pea trellis
10. Don’t sit around at work if your work is done.  Go home and do something that is constructive to your life.  But work enough hours in the meantime to make your money’s worth. 

I am so proud of our children, they tend to exceed expectations always! 

Went to the grocery store today to buy a couple of things for dinner.  I got in line in the ten items or less line  feeling good that my purchase was less than ten items and bruised that that I only had 20 dollars to spend.  January is a tough time for our farm and our bank account!    

There was a woman in front of me that I noticed had two frozen pot pies, a loaf of bread, and envelope and a newspaper.  She was waiting for her daughter to come back into line that she had sent for something else.  The ten or less line is always very urgent and I actually enjoy going through it, because some people are so weird about fast, and I like to make comments that screw around with their heads.  Her daughter came back with a gallon of non fat milk and she was looking at it like it was  a twelve pack of coke to one of my kids.  The clerk rang it up and she was two dollars short.  I could feel her fear and her pain as she paid her cash, (like 15 dollars and then told the clerk to put the 2 dollars on her ATM, I know she was sweating whether it would go through or not. I know that she knew how much a gallon of milk meant to her daughter at that point.   It worked for her, but I tell ya I was ready to give her my 20 and walk out of the store with nothing.  I actually regret I did not give her one of our cards.  And  hope that I see her again sometime.