Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Thinking of spring


We had to run to Walmart for a couple of things this morning...one of which was lime. To put on the garden spot. Another item was something from the pharmacy which was waiting for us. We were going to pay for it up front, and as we were walking away, I ask Roger if he checked to make sure it was the right item...or maybe I should say right style of item. (Lancets--there are several 'styles' I guess you would call them, and all are not made the same) He looked and it was not...so he took it back and while we waited for them to get the correct ones, we went back to the gardening section.
We did come home with the above...but I could have spent so much more. I could go wild for flowers and gardening things. They also had Kennebec seed potatoes...also had Yukon Gold. But just hearing the name or seeing Kennebec takes me back to childhood. I don't know that we always planted them...but I think we did sometimes. I guess I just liked the sound of the name because it has stuck all these years. (Or maybe we didn't plant them at all...one of my brothers can surely tell me.) I don't recall the name of any others at all.

And the thoughts of hickory cane corn and cornfield beans brings such a happy vision to my mind. I don't know who of you have heard of either one so I will explain a little bit. Hickory cane corn is a very tall corn...I am 5'3" tall and it towers above me. The ears of corn are long and seems to me kind of slender. Maybe they just seemed slender...but for sure the kernels of corn are much wider and flatter than any other we ever grew. And maybe it comes in yellow, but we always grew white.

But the corn is not the object. We grew it so we could plant cornfield beans with it! I suppose they are similar to pole beans, but it was an actual variety. I don't know if they exist any more--I have never seen them in Indiana. The beans were long and oh so beautiful. And so much fun to pick. No bending over...but I don't even think that was the total pleasure of them. They were just a pleasure to pick, and to eat. I suppose it is an exaggeration to say they hung like grapes, but yet that is how I felt about them. We could pick a bushel in no time at all.

I think it is something deep within my soul, maybe back to caveman days, but I love to pick things. And my favorite things to pick above all else are blackberries, cornfield beans, and apples.

8 comments:

  1. I went through the gardening section of Wal-mart the other day and tried not to look too much. :)
    I bought a tulip plant and some bird seed.
    Hubs has a little hotbed with lettuce sprouting so far.
    No matter how old we get our memories keep taking us back to where we've been.

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  2. Great description of what picking means to many of us - soul deep. For me, it was finding potatoes in the tiny backyard garden while my grandfather raked the dirt, and summers in the UP, picking wild blueberries and strawberries - nothing better! Thanks for helping me remember that!

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  3. Great trip and purchases, Rose. I'll be waiting for all of these to grow!!!!

    Glad you checked your pharmacy prescription.. They seem to make mistakes ALOT.

    Yum--blackberries. We have wild blackberries growing around here. We love to pick them and eat them when we are hiking and find some!!!!

    Have a great day.
    Hugs,
    Betsy

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  4. I've been wanting to buy some flowering trees for my front & back yard, but I can't make up my mind which ones I want! LoL!

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  5. I need blinders on when I go through the garden sections. By the time it is warm enough to start the seeds outside I won' have enough room to plant all the ones I have bought this spring.

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  6. Thanks for the extra info about skunks digging lawn holes - I sure hope that's not what I get nesting under the neighbor's porch! And your line about the blackbird thinking "what do I do with this thing now" had me in stitches! That's exactly what he looked like!!

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  7. I know what you mean about gardening sections of just about any store. I could spend quite a bit if I allowed myself.
    Your beans sound like the green beans I saw in China. Some of them were close to a foot long and they were absolutely delicious.

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  8. Rose: I must say I agree with the blackberries. I love freah blackberries.

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