Mario Bautista
I took a trip for a couple of weeks this summer and I had to board out the dogs and get a sitter for the cats. No problem.
I had to hire a home health care nurse for the garden. It required daily watering, tending, weeding and initial harvesting and, let me tell you, it ain’t beans to get that all done right.
When I got home it was just as the garden was going into labor. All of a sudden the zucchini and the beans popped out. The tomatoes ripened and I had to watch the beets and carrots carefully and snatch them away before the squirrels got to them.
Somebody teased me by saying: “Do you have the garden or does the garden have you?” and I replied: “Very funny — not.”
At the height of harvest I reaped baskets full of fresh produce, which I spread around the ’hood to neighbors who weren’t all that appreciative since they were also trying to unload their own excess produce. I canned enough tomatoes and pickles and applesauce to last me through Armageddon and took out a small loan to pay for all the canning lids.
Finally, the frost came and put an end to all that abundance. And for a moment I felt sad. Then I came to my senses. Now that I’m no longer tethered to a vegetable overlord there’s a whole new world of possibilities opening up.
In other words: freedom because there’s nothing left to lose.
Hedberg may be contacted at khedberg@lmtribune.com.
