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YOU ONE ARE LONELY ENOUGH. APPLE BY NICOLE HEROUX WILLIAMS I PHOTOS BY TRACY SIMONE BY NSP STUDIO
My back yard makes fun of me. Well, maybe not the entire yard, but certain plants in it certainly do. If I listen very carefully, I swear I hear them laughing. I have been trying to garden for years and each growing season, I start over and get excited for what could possibly be. At the rate I am going, I could starve to death! I love eating fresh food and there is nothing better than being able to step outside and pick something as part of that day’s meal. Be it kale, lettuce, tomatoes, corn, a cucumber or whatever…. it is always so much tastier than the “franken-food” they offer at the grocery store. Who even knows what that expensive stuff has been treated with? Most of the “produce” was picked before it was ripe and then shipped in from somewhere far away. Many people have also touched it. Yikes. The better choice is usually a local farmers market. However, even with that, you still have no clue about what pesticides, herbicides or fertilizers were used on the food before it got to you. UGH. So, back to trying to grow your own. Not only is it a hobby, but it is also like a game. However, it is a total crap shoot whether you will get to eat what 316
ROCHESTER WOMAN ONLINE : DECEMBER EDITION 2021
you have spent the season nurturing. So, on to my tale of woe. More than once, there has been a plum or something that I have watched like a hawk. After several years of patiently waiting on these fruit trees, there may only be one or two things to harvest at
Some chipmunk, squirrel, or bird has not only violated your space, but ate the whole thing! One little tear wants to run down your face! This scene has repeated itself more than once at my house. It’s almost like craving something that you left in the refrigerator but someone else got to it first. You had plans for it, but they beat you to it. Damn! This is much worse though….. you babied that food in the yard. You prepared the beds in the Spring and watered and fed it all through the summer. These animals have no respect! They are hungry too and while I always try to plant enough for everyone knowing that the little thieves will come, it is an insult to lose that single piece of fruit that managed to grow on the tree this year! I feel like a little kid after someone took my toy!
first. Maybe there will be more next year. You watch it every day, watering, inspecting, and caring for it like it is your baby. Tomorrow, it will be ready. Yes, peak readiness. Tomorrow, I will pick it and I can’t wait! Oh noooooo! Tomorrow came and it was gone!
Then, it finally happened. We had a frost overnight that slammed the door on the growing season. For anyone with a garden, this is usually a sad day. Hopefully, everyone harvested everything they wanted before the deep freeze happened. One day, things are still hanging in there looking lush and the next morning, oops…. all tomato vines, eggplants, summer squash, and most flowers have given up the ghost. However, there can be a silver lining.
