I enjoyed the most amazing taste of summer recently. It came in the form of an incredible salad that took 23 years to make. That’s because before you can eat the salad you have to raise the vegetables. Of course before you can do that, you have to raise the farmer and the chef…and in this case a carpenter, too.
The salad contained scallions, beets, yellow and orange carrots, African blue basil, and cucumbers. All those colors tossed together with a cucumber and yogurt dressing was fantastic. It was finished off with goat cheese crumbles, sunflower seeds, and begonia petals. Yup, begonia petals. I found them quite refreshing with a crunchy texture and a flavor that hints of vinegar. It was as delicious to behold as it was to ingest.
You can see why a salad that colorful and tasty was certainly worth waiting 23 years to enjoy. Why so long a wait? Simple. The salad was made by my son who recently completed culinary school. But more than slicing, dicing, and tossing the ingredients in a bowl, he grew everything, except the cheese and sunflower seeds, in a box garden that he also built.
Living in a rented house in Atlanta, he’s not able to take liberties with the yard. So, there’s no plowing the back-forty. But he can have lawn furniture. His consist of a four-by-eight garden box that’s six inches deep and mounted on legs. So, it’s a table, sort of, and that’s furniture right? It is that relatively small space that produced so much food. All of it was grown from seeds he ordered off the internet. Apparently Amazon has taken the place of the seed catalog for the current generation.
This isn’t a one-time deal. He’s already started planning for cool season crops. Neither of us is sure where he got his interest in such behavior. My wife and I shared the cooking while the kids were still at home, but he was rarely around to observe, let alone help. Same goes for gardening. The carpentry he picked up his senior year of high school in shop class. So, go figure.
Am I bragging? Of course, but this is more than just the prattling of a proud parent. I was amazed by how much food you can grow in a small space. It just takes a little planning. A bit of care and a dose of patience help, too. In the end you feed more than you stomach. You feed your soul. Taking time to care for the plants and then enjoy the true fruits of your labor can really be a stress relief.
This salad brought a couple of important points to light. One is that the food you eat is enhanced by the company with which it is shared, especially if it’s with the person who prepared it from seed to salad. And, second, that you often reap more than you sow in gardening and parenting.
What a salad in so many ways! I just hope I don’t have to wait another 23 years for the next one.
