The Minnesota Farm Woman

Everyone knows that gardens get planted in the spring, and with two large gardens, I’ve got a lot to plant. The only trouble is, Mother Nature doesn’t always cooperate. In Minnesota, one must wait patiently for the snow to melt from the garden. Then, one must wait patiently for the garden to be dry enough from all the melted snow for HIM to till. Then, one must wait…patiently…patiently…for the tiller to get fixed and/or rented. Finally, the garden is tilled, and Mother Nature decided that the weekend would be a good time to send some much-needed rain. I’m looking at the bright side, though. The rain came mostly at night, so I was able to get some things planted during the day. I didn’t have to water anything. Dragging along an extra two pounds of muck on each garden clog burns more calories. Rain also makes the wild asparagus around here grow like crazy. I know it is growing, because I see neighbors carrying handfuls of it, and I see the tall fronds where it has gone to seed, but I can’t seem to find it, myself. Oh, I look for it all right, because I love asparagus. I look, but I do not see it. It is the same color as all the other green things that are growing around here this spring, and it is almost like I can’t see the trees for the forest. It is the same thing with the local delicacy, the morel mushroom. I know lots of morel hunters, and I know they will take their secret gathering spots to their graves. Most of them don’t worry about asking me to go along though, for two reasons. 1) I won’t be able to find the secret gathering spot again, because I can’t find my way out of a paper bag. 2) Once at the secret gathering spot, I couldn’t find a morel mushroom if it jumped out of the ground and landed in my empty bag. My dad used to come home on these warm spring-almost-summer days with a bag of mushrooms in one hand and a bag of asparagus in the other, and that night’s dinner would be delicious. I have come to the realization that although I don’t mind a walk though the woods in an attempt to find mushrooms or along a country road to find asparagus, I would really rather be working in my garden. I’m trying to get an asparagus patch established right now. Maybe I’ll be able to find those delicious, elusive spears just a little bit easier. Some people are hunters, some are gatherers, and some are farmers. Some may have the time and the patience to be all three. For me, despite being buried in the springtime muck, I know my feet are in the right place. Come summer, every night’s dinner will be delicious.