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Wednesday, May 13, 2009

We’ll Be Having Venison and Root Vegetables for Dinner Next Week

You can get a lot in a city, but you can’t get a garden in your own yard – at least not with the size of my yard – and with Spring truly here, the urge to drive my hands into the earth has become embarrassingly present.

I have flower beds, of course, and flower boxes on the house. A Stella daylily and three Hollyhocks were added to the alley just last Sunday.

But there’s no tomatoes.

And the lack of my own tomatoes?

That’s wrong.

Honestly, after several (seemingly) years of non-stop winter, I’m so taken with the explosion of life outdoors that the promise of flowers makes my pupils dilate like a speed freak's.

But life isn't always about flowers, is it?

Sometimes, it's about tomatoes and other things that you crave, fresh.

Oh, sure, I suppose I could plant them in a large pot in the backyard, but what would I complain about then?

And that got me thinking.

What would – what would it look like if we could only eat what could be grown locally?

For me? Oh, we’ve already moved far from the tasty tomato, my friend. We’re looking at rows and rows of empty grocery store aisles. No oranges! No papaya or mango or bananas or any fruit at all outside of berries and apples.

We’d have to go back to buying fruit out of Mexicans’ back seats!

My extremities go cold as I consider the foods that would disappear completely if not seasonally.

Somebody hold me.

Rice. Peanuts. Jicama. Water chestnuts.

Avocadoes.

Avocadoes?!

Oh, God! Not the guacamole!

Ladies and gentlemen, I never fully realized this, but I’m living in a house of cards.

24 comments:

La Belette Rouge said...

Bacon, Lettuce and Zinnia sandwiches? Flowers are nice but you can't eat them. Okay, you can put Nasturtiumon your salad but no one ever craves them and you can't make a brucshetta out of them.

♥ Braja said...

Wow...well, mangoes, pineapple, bananas, and lots of rice: that's local :) And then there's my veggie patch! Come and live with MEEE, Pearl :)))))
xx

darsden said...

just when I was about to suggest the hot house tomatoes for you..I have actually seen them and they are beautiful matoes...how is your alley flowers doing? Any more theifs?

Pearl said...

La Belette, ah, I had not considered the BLZ sandwich!

Braja, OK! I will come by in January!

darsden, no thieves just yet, but it's early! Give the little bastards a minute -- they'll be by...

Dr Zibbs said...

You need to get the Topsy Turvey.

anon said...

Don't you have community gardens out there? They're really a nice idea. I've thought about opening a portion of my property for this, of course then you have to spray for gardeners in the fall to clear them out for the winter.
We shall see.

Anonymous said...

Lots of Spuds out here...

Boil 'em

Bake 'em

Put 'em in a stew....

;-)
People always underestimate the power of the potato.

@eloh said...

Semi-tropical here, go outside by golly you better be fast. It's eat or be eaten.

Growing season never ends. Meat too, and not just the neighbors cats, I had 15 deer in the yard last week.

Kim said...

No guacamole? No can do. Yikes, I'm going weak in the knees just thinking about it...

IB said...

Well, we put our tomatoes out last week. Unfortunately, here in the great Northwest, tomatoes typically never ripen. Too much friggin rain. Instead they turn all mealy and gross. All they are good for is throwing at crows...which is fun, don't get me wrong, but hardly seems worth the effort. Still, we try. We are daft, after all.

Smart Mouth Broad said...

I love the idea of using what is in season and grown locally. But Lawd have MERCY! Don't restrict me to it.

De Campo said...

I've shared my back seat with many a Mexican and the topic of fruit never arose.

The Jules said...

Remember, civilisation is only three meals away from anarchy.

Two, in my case. I'm a bit peckish.

heartinsanfrancisco said...

I could not do without avocados and mangoes, to say nothing of coconut.

I have FOUR heirloom tomato plants in my city backyard plus pole beans, peppers, strawberries, herbs, mesclun lettuce, arugula, and a meyer lemon tree which is in a large pot in case I move because they will have to pry my cold dead fingers off that lemon tree.

Lidian said...

I would also miss guacamole up here in Ontario...We do have tomatoes, I think, from Leamington (which is somewhere around here, I believe) a tomato superpower of sorts. I think they have a statue of a giant tomato, too.

Douglas said...

Now I'm hungry. Blast you, Pearl! I just ate!

DKG aka Scrappy Doo said...

you do need the Topsey Turvey

only two payments of 19.95 and they will even include the stand

Scrappy

The Retired One said...

at our house, this would mean we would live on a shitload of green beans and some tomatoes, and maybe a few cucumbers. Nothing else grows as well. But yummmm those fresh tomatoes!!

Pearl said...

Dr. Zibbs, ha! I saw that commercial late last night...

Powedergirl, the concept of spraying come fall to rid one’s self of unwanted gardeners is hilarious.
We do have community gardens, yes. I should look into that, shouldn’t I?

Sweet Cheeks, we grow taters here, too; but everyone knows they’re nothing like an Idaho spud!

whatan@hole – whew! That name is much easier! :-D And fifteen deer? So there’s venison at your house next week, too?

Under the Influence, can you imagine? Life without guacamole? *shudder*

Smart Mouth Broad, I feel the same way.

De Campo, I was hoping someone would grab that one. :-D

The Jules, I call dibs on Jules, people! When the revolution comes, he and I will be armed with the cutlery…

Heartsinsanfrancisco, you, my friend, are a far better woman than I am! Hmm. Wonder if I could grow arugula in MN? One of my favorites.

Lidian, suddenly I have the urge to see myself in a picture beside a statue of a tomato!

Douglas, but are you hungry for GUACAMOLE?!

Scrappy Doo, but what if it’s from the same bestids that sold me the Space Bags?!!

Pearl said...

Retired One, I love all those things...
Oh, do I wish I had a home-grown tomato right now!

Travis Erwin said...

I'm a carnivore so I'd just have to dine on the local critters.

Jocelyn said...

So with you. I'm all "eco-friendly" and "a bit crunchy," until I want my asparagus waaaaaaaaaay before it would ever be growing in Duluth.

Btw, how about a community garden plot and/or tomatoes in pots?

Douglas said...

Guacamole? Always! Which is which I try to keep avocados around at all times. I live in a land of oranges, mangoes, bananas, limes, and grapefruit. We also grow avocados. Everything grows well here, especially the weeds in my lawn.

Pearl said...

Travis, I'm quite carnivorous myself; and the local rabbits, racoons, and turkeys (yes, turkeys! in the city!) would not be safe for long!

Jocelyn, yep, Duluth is just slightly worse off, weather-wise, than Minneapolis with that big cold lake you got there!

Douglas, I envy you your fresh fruit. :-)