 Last
year was our first growing season here on our farmland and home. We had
ambitious plans for a garden. We planted about an acre full of corn, beans,
squash, watermelon, cantaloupe, tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini--you name it we
planted it. Since we live on the border of a national park, deer are a big
problem. We thought the more we planted, the more we'd have left for us -- even
if the deer came and ate some of it. WRONG.
One evening, my nephew counted 41 deer grazing through our
garden. They knew exactly peak harvest season and came to eat our labors. I'd
look at my cantaloupe and say to myself, ''those should be ready in a couple
more days.'' Then, the next time I looked they had big bites in them. One crop
after another was devoured by the deer. What wasn’t eaten by the deer was
overgrown with weeds because the garden was too large and too far away for me (a
hugely pregnant woman at the time) to maintain. Everyone wants to plant, but
heaven forbid, no one clamors to maintain!
By the end of the growing season, we'd discovered a
handful of vegetables that the deer didn't like: tomatoes, squash, zucchini,
turnip greens, and peppers. So this year, that's what I grew -- along with a few
other ''test'' crops (like strawberries, beans, sunflowers, and cucumbers). We
planted a smaller garden, closer to the house so I could monitor and maintain it
better. Other than the occasional rabbit, nothing ate the garden.
I've grown the most beautiful squash, zucchini and
cucumbers this year and have them running out my ears. I've given away most of
it because there's just so much. I've also made pickles and experimented with
different storage methods. They've been an overwhelming success, more so than I
realized at times. It's the nature of zucchini and cucumbers to be almost
invisible. They grow camouflaged along with the plant stems. You miss a lot of
them -- until they are so huge you can't help but see them.
One Saturday as I spent a little extra time hunting and
searching for cucumbers, squash, zucchini and ripe tomatoes among the
gargantuan, prehistoric-size leaves, I kept uncovering more and more vegetables
ready to be plucked. That is when it hit me -- if I hadn't taken the time to
keep searching and looking, I never would have found all this fruit. It would
have either rotted or gotten too big to be tasty. As I pondered on my search for
ripe vegetables, I realized that there is a lesson in this garden of mine.
Actually there are many lessons that can be applied to our lives and our
families:
- Don't overextend yourself.
Don't plant more than you can handle effectively. Anything more is a waste and
prevents you from being able to effectively take care of your basic needs.
- Do what you do best.
(We learned to plant what the deer wouldn't eat).
- Test, try new things and see what will
work.
Sometimes you'll be pleasantly surprised.
- Take time to study and observe what
you're doing.
Many times you're more successful
than you realize. Success is often lying right in front of you; all you need do
is take the time to recognize the hidden treasures.
- Share your harvest with others.
The more you pick, the more the plants bear. So keep harvesting and sharing with
others
- Set some of your abundance aside
for the future. Nothing is more savory than a winter stew made from
summer’s bounty.
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