My Little Babes

It's a miracle. My little farm has produced edible goodies. Didn't think it was going to happen, especially after I was told by a self-proclaimed expert backyard farmer, Miles, that I wasn't watering enough. "Look at the leaves," he had said, "How could you not know you weren't watering enough? They're dying!" Well, frankly, I hadn't been going out there to even notice. It was too hot, even in my air-conditioned house. Why the h*ll would I go outside? Plus I had a new toy to play with- my piano.

Well, it finally cooled down yesterday... a breezy 85 degrees. It felt like fall, almost, so I ventured out to the back. Oh, I do have such lovely yard...too bad it's so hot here in the summer. I walked over to the little patch of farm to see how the leaves were doing, and I noticed something red. OMG, is that a tomato!? Yes, it was a tomato, bright red tomato! My own little tomato, and I found another one right behind it. I jumped up and down in excitement, almost falling off the ledge, and looked closer at the other plants. (My organic farm is separated by a small wall where I have to stand to look at the plants.)

OMG, I've got peppers, too! Oh sh*t, why did I plant so many? I thought one plant would yield about six at the most. Oh no, there's about thirty on each plant! Wait, what were they again? I had to dig around the ground to find the little plaque to figure out what kind of peppers I had planted. They were Anaheim Chiles. What am I going to do with all of these? Why didn't someone tell me I didn't need to plant so many? That Shane, some help he is!

Anyway, after the mini-drama I had in my head over all the wrong things I had planted, I proceeded to walk around the farm & found one watermelon, one eggplant, one jalapeno, two ripe cherry tomatoes, dead cucumbers, dead corn, and lots of green tomatoes hanging from the vine...is it called a vine? I couldn't help but smile looking at all my organics. No pesticides, not even any fertilizer or plant food, and I had myself my own fresh farm produce. I felt like a proud parent, even though I neglected them most of the time they were fighting to survive.

Now I understand why people do this every year, and kind of understand why people have kids. It's a lot of work & a pain in the behind, and at times you neglect them just out of pure frustration...but when they start maturing a bit & start looking like what they were meant to be, they're just so beautiful. Wow, I think I just grew up a little, maybe... I think my veggie garden helped me understand that having children is not the end of the world, as I had always thought. Oh my, am I finally ready for a conventional life of marriage and family? Oh no, what has Utah done to me?

But I so do hate the conventional...hmm, we'll see what unfolds.