• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Home Garden Joy
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Gardening Basics
    • Seed Starting
    • Composting Basics
    • Vegetable Gardening
    • Growing Fruit
    • Growing Herbs
  • Recipes
    • Canning and Food Preservation
    • Vegetarian Meals
    • Salad Recipes
    • Soup Recipes
    • Dinner Recipes
    • Dessert Recipes
  • Books & Classes
    • Classes
    • Books
    • Books for Christian Herbalists
  • About
    • Writer Jeanne Grunert
    • Advertise
    • Awards and Accolades
    • Privacy Policy

50 Pounds of Organic Potatoes Later…

July 29, 2013 by Jeanne

…and I’ve still got to get them canned this week!

But on the bright side, all of the beets are canned.

I look back at my life here in Virginia and can hardly believe how much I’ve changed since moving here. Yesterday as I worked in the kitchen, scraping the messy purple skins off the beets, one of them shot out of my hand with a cartoonish “squeeeee” noise, then bounced like a superball across my kitchen floor, ricocheting off of counters and my clean floor. When it rolled to a stop, I had purple splatters everywhere and I couldn’t stop laughing. I was laughing so hard that hubby called in from the living room to make sure I was all right; I think he thought I’d cut my hand and was slowly sinking to the floor in a shock-induced heap. Instead, I was doubled over at the counter, laughing so hard tears were running down my face, all because the little golf ball sized beet made a funny noise as it squirted out of my hand and tore around the kitchen like a pinball.

There were days many years ago when I’d have gone off like a rocket, angry and stomping around because of the mess left in my kitchen. Now, I just laugh.

Part of that change has to do with reduced stress, or at least changed stress. We went into Charlottesville on Friday night for dinner and to pick up family at the train station and the noise and crowds almost put me into meltdown mode. Compare Charlottesville to midtown Manhattan during, say, rush hour, and there’s no comparison – as a veteran New Yorker, quickly to dodge cabs and honking cars when dashing to catch my train at Penn, Charlottesville should have been a breeze. But I’m so used to peace and quiet now that the noise of street performers, crowds of people strolling the main drag and stopping at restaurants, and the traffic on Charlottesville’s narrow streets had me on the verge of a headachey meltdown of epic proportions. I was never so glad to escape back into the green peacefulness of the countryside as I was on Friday night when we finally drove back to Prince Edward county.

I looked up from the hot stove yesterday where nine pints of pickled beets burbled merrily in the ancient canning pot and said aloud, “I love canning.”  I really enjoy it. I love the whole process, even though beets are the most time and labor intense.  I’m actually looking forward to canning green beans and potatoes this week.

I love the garden, and the feel of planting seeds and watching them grow. I love taking my harvest basket outside, slung over my arm as I rummage around the bean and tomato and cucumber plants seeking the latest offering from the garden. I love watching butterflies dance on the breeze as they dart among the flowers in the perennial garden, and I love that my work breaks now revolve around a few peaceful minutes on my front porch playing with the cats rather than a dash down the stairs, out the door onto 7th Avenue, and a dash to Starbucks for a super-priced, super caffeinated beverage.

There are times when I miss Manhattan, and times when I lose my temper as I did years ago. But with the stress about half of what I used to know, and new delights around every corner, rural Virginia is where it’s at for me.

My husband and nephew harvested 50 pounds of potatoes this weekends — organic russets and Yukon golds, plus 20 pounds of beets, and onions drying in the garage today.  If, sitting at my desk in Manhattan 10 years ago in 2003 you would have told me that a decade later I’d be looking forward to canning potatoes, I would have thought you were crazy.  But here I am, and the potatoes are waiting.

Jeanne
Jeanne

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.

Tweet
Share
Pin
Share
0 Shares

Filed Under: Vegetable Gardening

Follow me on social media

Like
Follow
Follow
Follow
Follow
Previous Post: « Chicken Marsala Recipe
Next Post: Butterfly Gardening »

Primary Sidebar

Let’s Connect!

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • YouTube

Featured

logo of the american horticulture society

Home Garden Joy was featured by the American Horticultural Society on #plantchat.

We were featured in Porch.com and answered reader's questions about indoor plants.

Writer Jeanne Grunert

cover of plan and build a raised bed garden

Find all my books on Amazon.com

Gardening Articles

a white bowl filled with vegan creamy cauliflower soup made with orange cauliflower

Vegan Creamy Cauliflower Soup

a close up of a pink Christmas cactus flower on a wooden table

Schlumbergera x buckleyi – Christmas Cactus

red celosia flowers in the garden

How to Save Flower Seeds

savory on a wooden table

How to Grow Summer Savory

Footer

a woman holding a popover with the cream interior revealed and two other popovers on a plate

Best Popover Recipe

This is the best popover recipe ever! It was easy to make and turned out delicious popovers. This was my first time making popovers, and I can’t remember the last time I had one, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. As usual, I turned to my trusty Fannie Farmer 13th Edition Cookbook and found…

Read More

Christmas present under the tree

Christmas Gifts for Gardeners: Your Holiday Gift Guide

Are you looking for Christmas gifts for gardeners? This is your holiday gift guide to find the perfect present for that special gardener in your life! Ready? Let’s go shopping! Christmas Gifts for Gardeners: Your Holiday Gift Guide Maybe you’re searching for the perfect Christmas gifts for gardeners in your life. Or perhaps you are…

Read More

a white bowl filled with vegan creamy cauliflower soup made with orange cauliflower

Vegan Creamy Cauliflower Soup

This recipe for vegan creamy cauliflower soup offers a tasty, filling comfort food for cold winter’s nights – all without any animal products. The secret to its amazing taste is a combination of dried summer savory and parsley stirred liberally into the simmering vegetables. Here’s the full recipe and instructions for my vegan creamy cauliflower…

Read More

a close up of a pink Christmas cactus flower on a wooden table

Schlumbergera x buckleyi – Christmas Cactus

Schlumbergera x buckleyi – Christmas cactus. So many people love these plants, but so many people also don’t know how to take care of them. Now, part of that is the name – Christmas cactus. Unfortunately, whoever discovered them in the rain forests thought they were cacti, and so they received this unfortunate designation. In…

Read More

Copyright © 2023 Home Garden Joy on the Foodie Pro Theme