I grew up as a gardener’s helper and thought it was a lot of work.  While I always enjoyed the bounty growing up,  I did not enjoy the itchy arms from picking beans & squash, the scratches from raspberry bushes, or removing Japanese beetles from pretty much everything.  I always enjoyed, though probably did not fully appreciate, walking out the back door and eating of fresh berries, our own fresh frozen corn in January, having fresh flowers in almost every room in the house, and the joy and surprises of digging potatoes.

I did not realize as the gardener’s helper how much time it takes to not only grow a garden, but plan, pick, maintain, protect, weed, process, and preserve.  Abe helps water and weed, and squeals when he picks zucchini or cucumbers, smells the basil or sees how big the pumpkins have gotten.  After Abe is in bed, we find ourselves checking out the bounty, tying up the tomatoes, taming runaway pumpkins and butternut, weeding, tilling, and watering until dark.  Jeff & I have yet to work with headlamps, but as the days get shorter I can see that happening in the not so distant future.  After dark it is time for blanching, bagging, pureeing, and finding recipes for the seemingly endless supply of squash and planning uses for the upcoming bounty of corn, cantaloupe, and tomatoes. Cucumbers are not a problem, as I seem to be eating refrigerator pickles by the gallon, sometimes (OK a lot of times) I eat them before they make it to the refrigerator.

We’re already talking about where to plant next year’s rows of corn, how far to space them so they don’t burn on the fence, where to put to the pole beans so they don’t shade out other crops, locating the pumpkins so they don’t take over a quarter of the garden, and how much garlic to plant this fall.  Labor yes, love yes.