First Harvest

Besides a couple of friends I knew growing up, who lived on farms, I'm pretty sure most of the members of my generation know very little about growing and harvesting produce.  I say this because it was almost breaking news for me when I read about growing seasons in Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle.  Ever since I can remember, I would walk into a grocery store and see the same collection of produce from which to choose.  There may have been small reminders, like the annual opening of the Ebbert Farm Market in St. Clairsville, OH, but otherwise, I sort of just assumed everything was grown all the time.  I also never had any appreciation for what a difference it makes to buy local--or at least not from Mexico or other locations that require the produce to rack up the miles of travel before getting to me.

This summer, I've had my first vegetable gardening experience, and this past week, I had my first harvest experience.  We picked a few of our heirloom tomatoes to go on our BLT sandwiches we were having for dinner.  I've had a lot of tomatoes in my time, but I've never tasted any one as good as what I tasted on that sandwich.  It was the perfect balance of sweetness, and it was the perfect texture--not too mushy and not too firm.  This single experience has totally made me a believer.

Now, I can't wait to sample the cucumbers and peppers from the same garden.  I hope they blow my socks off just the same.