Lessons ~ Wildwood Treasures

It's raining again.  No complaints, however.  Our ground had been  
' so ' dry ' so ' deep, thus, we need the rains.  In the past week we have gotten over 4 inches.  It has replenished our gardens, the lawns are green once more and the creek no longer trickles ~ it roars.  There is not a more relaxing sound, except, perhaps, the sound of rain on the cabin's metal roof.

For some unknown-to-me-reason, I'm unable to load pictures for you.  Sometimes, it's just good to use one's imagination, just like when we were kids and before the age of technology.  Even my kids, and especially the Grandloves, cannot begin to understand such a peaceful and fearless world. Growing up when I was a kid was good as gold.

The gardens are overflowing.  There is processing going on daily.
Today  it was peas........again...........Next, green beans.......and cucumbers, dill, basil......and kale, carrots and beets and beet greens........and, and, and ~  life is busy.

Due to the saturation point of the ground, however, and the wet crops, there will be no sinking in the paths, no picking the beans that are getting away on me, for I'm staying out of the gardens.  Mom always said, " Don't pick the beans when they are wet or they will rust. "  She knew.

Long ago when I worked late waiting tables, I would come home famished and headed straight for the garden to pick a handful of green beans, steam them and that was my snack while winding down from a long night on my fast but tired feet.  
 One night, I came home to find the beans picked, snipped, in the pan and waiting for me.  It was then, that I learned about not picking wet or dewy beans. 
Thanks to Mom, another lesson learned.  I never liked feeling my way through the bean patch in the dark anyway.

I learned most about gardening from my mom and about berries and cattle/deer crops from my dad.  Coming from a large family to feed, most every opportunity is taken to cut corners in the pocketbook.  My parents taught each of us to fend for ourselves.  
Nothing is free but everything can be a gift.  It's all in how you see it and utilize it.  That was why gardening and hunting for food was always so important.  Just yesterday, I made jelly from the chokecherries and black cherries that Bill and I found in the woods.  Jelly from wild trees ~ another gift.  It's there for everyone to find and use.  Gifts, like the mushrooms and berries, cherries and leeks of springtime.  All any of us need to do is, open our eyes and see that ~ it's ok to accept these wildwood treasures to feast on.

Life is so Good