Commentary - pcgazette.com

Commentary
pcgazette.com

Shared garden bounty adds joy to summer

By BILL BERRY
Special to The Gazette
Blessed are the gardeners who share their bounty, for the harvest shall be theirs.

The gifts in this season of bounty often come unannounced to the back door, in bunches, half-washed, or in old kettles, dented by time. They come in old grocery bags, or plastic sacks. What's important is that they come, and that the simplest and most human of traits, to share and to give, is alive in a complicated and seemingly inhumane world.

Let the power go out and the computers crash, these are the days of fresh beans, luscious tomatoes and perfect sweet corn.

Now is the time for great bunches of beans, so fresh and tasty that even finicky kids who say they hate them don't complain when served. They seem almost but not quite ready to admit being wrong.

In the hierarchy of the harvest, sweet corn and tomatoes mean the most. Three large tomatoes in a bowl, now that's art and beauty. Sweet corn, why there aren't words to describe its wonder. Summer can stop right there and pause for as long as it likes. You whiners about the heat, be still. Chill.

No one has been able to capture the exact formula that takes everything the earth has to offer, especially the summer sun, and puts it into a single, gorgeous tomato, grown not 200 feet from where you sit and eat. But the formula is there, and the proof is in the eating.

As children, we learn as much how to eat, as what to eat. Whole cultures decide what to grow and eat based on the dance of food and ritual.

To watch a tomato lover focus full attention on the joy of the moment is a reminder to live life with spirit, and to rejoice in its finest blessings.

In some settings, eating a tomato from the hand is permitted. A good thing, too, because hand eating tomatoes is a liberating and encompassing experience. It lets all the senses participate. A tomato lover will admire the orb, roll it about in the palm, rub its smooth skin, put it close to the face and inhale, take a dainty bite, and admire the essence of life within. Depending on tastes, one lover might continue in rapture, while another will casually but carefully wave a pepper shaker over the exposed flesh, letting exactly the right number of flakes gently fall, then take a satisfying bite. Either way, the act of eating a tomato in hand includes the permissible and practical sucking wet kiss needed to cleanly complete the intercourse without dribbling juice.

Oh, who could ask for more than another summer and one more fresh tomato?

Well, that and maybe the perfect ear of corn. As every sweet corn lover who ever lived knows full well that a gap as deep and wide as the Grand Canyon separates a perfectly acceptable ear of corn and the perfect ear of corn. Perfectly acceptable is quite good, unlike unacceptable, which depending on tastes, can range from green and unripe to overripe and tasteless.

Acceptable sweet corn is a blessing. It complements any number of simple dishes, quite well, too. Taste is a consideration in the honing of every variety of sweet corn, or we'd be eating field corn and liking it just fine. Other considerations enter, too, such as length of season. Then comes nature with all of its variables, from climate to pests, heat units to downpours, all factors in the growth of acceptable sweet corn.

But then on some few days, some days of higher blessings, the forces come together to produce the perfect ear of corn. Perfection implies uniqueness, oneness, but that is not true, for perfect sweet corn can come more than once a season, and revisit year after year. You know it is perfect when it is there in front of you. All else is secondary at these moments of higher gifts bestowed and enjoyed.

Perfect sweet corn will bring whole long tables of people to silence, in the way of all things holy and great. The experience can be nearly melancholic, for the perfect ear of corn is sometimes accompanied by memories of tables long gone, and loved ones who sat at those tables, agreeing that the feast was nearly beyond description.

It's another reason not to be in a hurry about life, especially these days of fresh beans, luscious tomatoes and perfect sweet corn.



	Shared garden bounty adds joy to summer By BILL BERRY Special to The Gazette Blessed are the gardeners who share their bounty, for the harvest shall be theirs. The gifts in this season of bounty often come unannounced to the back door, in bunches, half-washed, or in old kettles, dented by time. They come in old grocery bags, or plastic sacks. What's important is that they come, and that the simplest and most human of traits, to share and to give, is alive in a complicated and seemingly inhumane world. Let the power go out and the computers crash, these are the days of fresh beans, luscious tomatoes and perfect sweet corn. Now is the time for great bunches of beans, so fresh and tasty that even finicky kids who say they hate them don't complain when served. They seem almost but not quite ready to admit being wrong. In the hierarchy of the harvest, sweet corn and tomatoes mean the most. Three large tomatoes in a bowl, now that's art and beauty. Sweet corn, why there aren't words to describe its wonder. Summer can stop right there and pause for as long as it likes. You whiners about the heat, be still. Chill. No one has been able to capture the exact formula that takes everything the earth has to offer, especially the summer sun, and puts it into a single, gorgeous tomato, grown not 200 feet from where you sit and eat. But the formula is there, and the proof is in the eating. As children, we learn as much how to eat, as what to eat. Whole cultures decide what to grow and eat based on the dance of food and ritual. To watch a tomato lover focus full attention on the joy of the moment is a reminder to live life with spirit, and to rejoice in its finest blessings. In some settings, eating a tomato from the hand is permitted. A good thing, too, because hand eating tomatoes is a liberating and encompassing experience. It lets all the senses participate. A tomato lover will admire the orb, roll it about in the palm, rub its smooth skin, put it close to the face and inhale, take a dainty bite, and admire the essence of life within. Depending on tastes, one lover might continue in rapture, while another will casually but carefully wave a pepper shaker over the exposed flesh, letting exactly the right number of flakes gently fall, then take a satisfying bite. Either way, the act of eating a tomato in hand includes the permissible and practical sucking wet kiss needed to cleanly complete the intercourse without dribbling juice. Oh, who could ask for more than another summer and one more fresh tomato? Well, that and maybe the perfect ear of corn. As every sweet corn lover who ever lived knows full well that a gap as deep and wide as the Grand Canyon separates a perfectly acceptable ear of corn and the perfect ear of corn. Perfectly acceptable is quite good, unlike unacceptable, which depending on tastes, can range from green and unripe to overripe and tasteless. Acceptable sweet corn is a blessing. It complements any number of simple dishes, quite well, too. Taste is a consideration in the honing of every variety of sweet corn, or we'd be eating field corn and liking it just fine. Other considerations enter, too, such as length of season. Then comes nature with all of its variables, from climate to pests, heat units to downpours, all factors in the growth of acceptable sweet corn. But then on some few days, some days of higher blessings, the forces come together to produce the perfect ear of corn. Perfection implies uniqueness, oneness, but that is not true, for perfect sweet corn can come more than once a season, and revisit year after year. You know it is perfect when it is there in front of you. All else is secondary at these moments of higher gifts bestowed and enjoyed. Perfect sweet corn will bring whole long tables of people to silence, in the way of all things holy and great. The experience can be nearly melancholic, for the perfect ear of corn is sometimes accompanied by memories of tables long gone, and loved ones who sat at those tables, agreeing that the feast was nearly beyond description. It's another reason not to be in a hurry about life, especially these days of fresh beans, luscious tomatoes and perfect sweet corn.