Last night, I raced out with my huge steel bowl in hand to pick as many peppers and other hot-weather veggies as I could. As predicted, today we got a humdinger of a storm, with temps only reaching the mid 40s all day today and sleet pattering on the roof on and off. This is very unusual for southern Virginia – we usually don’t see sleet or freezing rain until November, December most years. I even turned the heater on in my office while I worked today. Ah, the smell of hot dust….a-choo!
But last night I indulged in a pleasant end of summer ritual. I made a Caprese salad. Thinly sliced tomatoes arranged in a pinwheel on the plate, interspersed with fresh basil leaves and a sprinkle of low fat mozzarella cheese, then drizzled with extra virgin olive oil. I poured a small glass of wine and sat at the kitchen table, my gaze lingering over the vegetable garden about 30 feet away. I raised my glass. Salut, I thought, and thank you for the bounty of vegetables. This was probably the best year ever for the veggie garden. Each year I learn more and more, and each year I harvest more from the garden.
Thank you, I said mentally, and dug in.
The taste of summer. I’ll miss you.
Jeanne Grunert is a certified Virginia Master Gardener and the author of several gardening books. Her garden articles, photographs, and interviews have been featured in The Herb Companion, Virginia Gardener, and Cultivate, the magazine of the National Farm Bureau. She is the founder of The Christian Herbalists group and a popular local lecturer on culinary herbs and herbs for health, raised bed gardening, and horticulture therapy.
