The garden is thriving in our narrow patch of dirt in the backyard. It’s been nonstop lettuce and kale for the past week, and we’ve nary put a dent in the mounting green globules that have flourished from seed under our careful attention.
Baby Kale and Lettuce
Lord Amherst once said, “There are three easy ways of losing money – racing is the quickest, women the most pleasant, and farming the most certain.” Pope John XXIII (ruled 1958-63) riffed on a similar theme, saying “Italians come to ruin most generally in three ways, women, gambling, and farming. My family chose the slowest one.”
Indeed, what with all the money we’ve spent on soil, seeds, fertilizer, gardening equipment… and all the time we’ve spent on planting, watering, weeding… we could’ve easily and more cheaply gone to the store and bought some freaking cabbage.
Lettuce and Cabbage
It being mid-June, everything is green like spring, except for the red chard, which burns like blood and wine.
Swiss Chard
The majority of my ancestors probably spent their lives indentured to agriculture, praying, coaxing their crops to harvest. We cultivate for hobby, and then complain when the bumper crop of lettuce enslaves us to salads for a solid month.
Next Round of Lettuce
