I was gone a week. A full week. Before I left I watered everything as much as I could, typed out instructions labeled: watering, weeding, harvesting, and prayed for rain.
When I left there were tiny beets in the ground and the beginning of the four broccoli heads, and the very first few snow peas. My biggest fear was missing the entire pea season. I’ve had such bad luck with peas every year, and if they didn’t get picked or there was lots of heat and no water, they might put out stunted, plumped, bad-tasting peas.
Hooray Sophia! My niece who lives on the farm did her job, namely harvesting. She picked the peas and even cut the four broccoli heads, leaving the stalks where a few side shoots are starting to emerge. I had instructed her on distribution (one head for her family, one for Amy and Kevin, and two heads for me).
What didn’t happen was rain or watering (yes, I know, too much to hope for, really, for the tired landscaper to turn on a hose on a timer!!)
Still, nothing actually died, although the already struggling potato bags may actually fail after such neglect. Oh well, there are potatoes planted everywhere. There will be potatoes. And he did poison the gopher twice, just as it was advancing on the beds of beans, onions and potatoes.
And I did not miss the pea season. In fact, the Green Arrow peas are still plumping in their pods. Water (which I am now providing) will help with that.
The first evening home I made a gigantic salad. There was still just a bit more lettuce, and there were radishes, broccoli, snow peas, beet greens, spring onions, and a wonderful salad dressing of yogurt, sour cream, lemon juice, dill, and garlic scapes all mashed up in the blender. YUM.
Last night, chicken, herb rice, and roasted beets with feta.
Tonight, a stir-fry with pork, snow peas, broccoli, radishes, onions, basil, scapes AND four very tiny zucchini I couldn’t help but pick and chop up, especially seeing all the other flowers and beginnings of squash on the vines.
It was a lovely week in Chicago. And it’s good to be home!