Of Okra and Optimism

Gardening Through Changes

On a cool Saturday morning (84 at dawn is cool for August), we were in the garden doing hot weather things. This dog-day is humid enough to send trickles down my wet forehead, but I feel a sad, cold spot in my chest.

Momma and Tom are picking okra. In her late 80s, she can only do standing garden tasks now. Okra is at the easy-work eye level. I noticed her struggling. Picking okra requires holding a pair of clippers, a bag, and her cane, which means she's working one-handed. It's a slow, slow process that must be frustrating for her. She used to be the best okra picker. Just last year, she did all the okra picking, washing, and pickling alone.

Tom gets five pods for her. “It’s so prickly. Okra leaves make me itch,” he says. To make things easier for her, he pushes through the leaves to put a bucket near her on the ground, relieving her of the bag. They both move slowly, stepping around the head-high okra plants, feeling the sun on the tops of their heads.

Okra is August. We plan our crop for then. Okra loves the heat. The plants shade you when you pick inside the okra forest. But August also means it's time to do some prep for fall, cool season veggies. So I'm on my knees, nearby, sowing seeds. Just last year, Momma would have been in a chair beside me, leaning over to scatter lettuce seeds. But now,  no more leaning over like that. 

Wet hair sticks to my hot face. Glasses slide down my nose. The cold spot I felt, the wishing she could do more, is gone. Sowing the seeds in August means hope. Momma's out here, motivated to get the okra. She'll want to know which row contains which seeds. She finds a chair. We have chairs everywhere these days.

"It's cool. That little breeze is so nice," she says. "I'm tired. But I still want us to get the figs. I’ll pickle okra today when it’s hot outside, and make fig preserves tomorrow."

Pickling okra and preserving figs are both hot-weather activities, but you do them to enjoy them later—sort of like sowing cool-season plants in summer.

It is funny how, in gardening, we have to be of two minds at one time. 

Normally, we wait a few weeks to seed things for the fall. It’s just a bit easier when temperatures cool. But this week, we seeded Spinach ‘Imperial Star,’ Lettuce ‘Green Tiger’ and ‘Black Seeded Simpson,’ Carrots ‘Kudrow,’ Arugula, and two different kinds of beets. All the varieties I use are tried and true for me—decent germination in the heat and good cold tolerance through winter. I use Hoss Seed, from Norman Park, Georgia, for most veggie seeds.

We sowed early this year because we have a fun family weekend coming up on the farm. Tom, Momma, and I will do tours, and my cousin, Robert Bales, will cook. Robert’s not a trained chef, but he’s been a food buyer and menu planner for restaurants around Atlanta for decades. He’s a foodie. And he knows wine, so he will pair wine with our farm foods. Join us for this fun day in October.

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