{"id":805,"date":"2009-06-22T19:51:00","date_gmt":"2009-06-22T19:51:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/homegardenjoy.com\/site\/2009\/06\/rip-my-cauliflower.html"},"modified":"2026-01-28T15:23:20","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T20:23:20","slug":"rip-my-cauliflower","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/homegardenjoy.com\/site\/2009\/06\/rip-my-cauliflower.html","title":{"rendered":"RIP My Cauliflower"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/homegardenjoy.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/cauliflower.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350244484554325394\" style=\"margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 214px;\" src=\"http:\/\/homegardenjoy.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/cauliflower-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><br \/>\nRIP cauliflower.<\/p>\n<p>I beheld you for a few shining moments.<\/p>\n<p>Three months of work yielded one head of cauliflower, a bumper crop of little green worms, and after the torrential rains last week &#8211; a stinking, rotting mess that used to be my cauliflower and broccoli. I pulled them all up on Saturday and composted the lot of them. (All the other veggies are thriving. The newest threat arrived thought &#8211; hordes of hungry Japanese beetles &#8211; but I&#8217;ll worry about them later.)<\/p>\n<p>The smell from the rotting cauliflower&#8230;.ugh.<\/p>\n<p>Such are the perils of gardening. We pray for rain; our prayers are answered, sometimes with abundance.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ve never lost an entire bed of vegetables, though, to too much rain. Last year we had drought. This year, too much rain. We heard from a neighbor that some of his corn washed away too, and some rotted.<\/p>\n<p>I tell you, since moving to the country, I have gained such a profound respect for farmers. I&#8217;ve always respected them; but going from a 10 x 10 backyard garden to living among working farmers who till hundreds of acres has given me new respect for all the smarts a farmer has to have.<\/p>\n<p>He must know science: agriculture, meteorology, botany, genetics, chemistry and probably a dozen other things.<\/p>\n<p>He must know mathematics: calculating square foot, yield, ratios and proportion of fertilizer and feed.<\/p>\n<p>He must have a strong back, a clear mind, and an amazing amount of hope and courage to last as a farmer.<\/p>\n<p>Let&#8217;s all hug a farmer today and give thanks for their hard work.<\/p>\n<p>RIP, cauliflower. Your job is done. First I got a lesson in patience. Now I get a lesson in respect, all from a head of stinking cauliflower.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>RIP cauliflower. I beheld you for a few shining moments. Three months of work yielded one head of cauliflower, a bumper crop of little green worms, and after the torrential rains last week &#8211; a stinking, rotting mess that used to be my cauliflower and broccoli. I pulled them all up on Saturday and composted&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/homegardenjoy.com\/site\/2009\/06\/rip-my-cauliflower.html\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2216,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wprm-recipe-roundup-name":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-description":"","_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_wp_convertkit_post_meta":{"form":"-1","landing_page":"","tag":"","restrict_content":""},"footnotes":""},"categories":[2301],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-805","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal","8":"entry"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.4 (Yoast SEO v27.5) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>RIP My Cauliflower - Home Garden Joy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"RIP My Cauliflower\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"RIP cauliflower. I beheld you for a few shining moments. Three months of work yielded one head of cauliflower, a bumper crop of little green worms, and after the torrential rains last week &#8211; a stinking, rotting mess that used to be my cauliflower and broccoli. I pulled them all up on Saturday and composted...Read More\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/homegardenjoy.com\/site\/2009\/06\/rip-my-cauliflower.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Home Garden Joy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sevenoaksgardening\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/jeanne.grunert\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-06-22T19:51:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-01-28T20:23:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/homegardenjoy.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/cauliflower.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"625\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"417\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jeanne\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@WriterGrunert\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@WriterGrunert\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homegardenjoy.com\\\/site\\\/2009\\\/06\\\/rip-my-cauliflower.html#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homegardenjoy.com\\\/site\\\/2009\\\/06\\\/rip-my-cauliflower.html\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jeanne\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homegardenjoy.com\\\/site\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2a4a2d7c5e897228f42be953553e4140\"},\"headline\":\"RIP My Cauliflower\",\"datePublished\":\"2009-06-22T19:51:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-01-28T20:23:20+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homegardenjoy.com\\\/site\\\/2009\\\/06\\\/rip-my-cauliflower.html\"},\"wordCount\":297,\"commentCount\":5,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homegardenjoy.com\\\/site\\\/2009\\\/06\\\/rip-my-cauliflower.html#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homegardenjoy.com\\\/site\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2009\\\/06\\\/cauliflower.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Personal\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/homegardenjoy.com\\\/site\\\/2009\\\/06\\\/rip-my-cauliflower.html#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homegardenjoy.com\\\/site\\\/2009\\\/06\\\/rip-my-cauliflower.html\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homegardenjoy.com\\\/site\\\/2009\\\/06\\\/rip-my-cauliflower.html\",\"name\":\"RIP My Cauliflower - 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Three months of work yielded one head of cauliflower, a bumper crop of little green worms, and after the torrential rains last week &#8211; a stinking, rotting mess that used to be my cauliflower and broccoli. 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