Another Backyard

Our neighbor Steve has a serious green thumb. He’s a good old-fashioned guy who considers it a sacrilege not to plant a summer garden. He often speaks of the four years he lived in Colorado, at an elevation too high for plants to grow well, as a dark time in his life. Now he’s here, living next to us (at a somewhat lower elevation) and he plants his garden every year with great gusto. The summer he moved next door (years ago) he immediately set to work digging up 3/4’s of the his backyard lawn and transforming the grass free space into a ginormous garden. As you can imagine, having Steve for a neighbor during the summer harvest is a real treat. (Having him as a neighbor in winter months is good too. Thought I’d make that clear).

Along with a green thumb, Steve also has a big heart. He takes it upon himself each summer to make sure that the folks in our neighborhood (at least those who are interested and who don’t have a garden of their own) get the experience of working in, harvesting, and enjoying the fruits (and vegetables) of their gardening labors. As a result Steve’s garden has turned into something of a neighborhood project.

Every year (since we dug up our own garden to put in a play set) Steve has persistently tried to convince me to spend some quality time in his garden. I’ve proven to be mostly hopeless though. I admit that I can be a bit like the Little Red Hen when it comes to gardening (I’m not lazy, just have other priorities at the moment). So…despite Steve’s well intentioned attempts, I haven’t become a avid gardener quite yet; but, I have learned a thing or two as a result of his tireless efforts to try and convert me. I hope he doesn’t give up because you never know, someday I may just utilize all that useful information that has sunk in despite my best efforts to repel it.

I may not be a gardener, but everyone knows I am social,…so one thing I love about Steve’s garden is that it’s become a neighborhood hang-out of sorts. You can get in some good socializing back there. I also love that Steve enjoys having children visit and help in the garden (as long as he’s there to supervise). Steve is adamant that kids should grow up knowing how to work in a garden. My boys LOVE to visit the garden and help plant, weed, and of course, pick the produce.

This week the raspberries were ripe, sweet and perfect. (Steve is keen on berries so he plants an abundance) The other day we had an wonderful summer raspberry picking fest with Steve, his wife Laurie, and our new friends, the Astwoods. Good times!

I even pulled some weeds between raspberry picking and photographing. Can you believe it?

Lovely raspberries…

I’m not much of a fruit person, but I LOVE me some raspberries. I picked and ate, picked and ate, picked and ate; just like Little Sal in this darling children’s book by one of the greatest children’s book authors of all time, Robert McCloskey.

This little guy (below) was exactly like Little Sal. He kept stuffing his face with berries straight out of his mom’s pail. Or, he would gaze up at me pleadingly with his big beautiful, brown eyes and then wait patiently for me to pick some berries and feed them to him out of my hand. I was more than happy to oblige him. The kids is adorable!

Jeffrey loves to pick, but of course he doesn’t eat. That would be allowing something healthy to pass his lips. Heaven forbid!

Jonathan on the other hand, picks and eats.

Our friend Claudia is from Brazil (too hot for raspberries) and her husband Henry is from the Dominican Republic (not much cooler). They say that having raspberries to pick right in your backyard is akin to being able to harvest caviar from your backyard. Claudia has family members in Brazil who have never tasted a raspberry simply because they are much too expensive to buy there. I don’t feel too sorry for them though, they can walk out their front door and pick an avocado or a guava fruit the size of their head off a tree in their own backyard. I wouldn’t mind that.

We picked lots of peas too. They were sweet and delicious. I love me some fresh picked peas.

A bit of Christmas in July

 

I took my berries home and made me some fresh raspberry crepes. They were fabulously delicious. I just wish my mom was here to make a raspberry pie. She makes the BEST raspberry pie. I cannot duplicate it. I’ve tried. Come home now mom, we need pie!

Anyway…I’m so happy that Steve is willing to share his abundance with me, even though I’m the Little Red Hen. Thanks Steve! And hey, I even picked some weeds yesterday too. Are you proud of me?