Today Liv and I stopped along the side of the road to purchase some garden goodies being sold out of the back of a pick-up truck. The kind of spoils I eagerly partake in 'round here in the South in Spring. They had a watermelon that seemed to be a great deal. I grabbed some tomatoes and a yellow squash as well. As if feeding me a "disclaimer", the lady told me that the melon had seeds. She said they're big and sweet but that some of her clients were disappointed because the watermelons had seeds. I chuckled, thanked her and just like Baby, "I carried a watermelon", back to the car. The kids were super excited and ate about 5lbs. each with dinner. I was joking with them that these are the old fashioned kind of melons I savored during my childhood Summers, you know, the kind with seeds. Have we become so disconnected from our food, and so accustomed to genetically altered foods that we get irritated with the chore of spitting out watermelon seeds?
Liv laughs at me every year as I begin my Garden of Eden plans for our yard. She just smiles and rolls her eyes as I enthusiastically begin my dream garden which inevitably results in frustration and disappointment. Let's face it, produce that you buy doesn't even resemble the products of the same name. Plums are bitter and apricots taste like an alien fruit. Growing up in California, where great produce grows with little effort year round, I am spoiled. I always took for granted walking out into the yard and eating fresh fruit off the tree or vine. My kids are lacking this grand experience.
I've really been wanting to try to forage for wild edible foods. In California I was familiar with some, but now that I'm in the South I have not had a lot of experience with someone showing me what's edible. It seems like it is a lost knowledge. Something that we should all know has not been passed down. There are a few local experts but they require a great deal of money to share their expertise. We've lost touch with our hunting/gathering roots. Today we use our mad skills stalking the aisles at the store and gathering label stats on the backs of prepackaged food. Many civilizations forage and I have decided to get my family in on my enthusiastic adventure.
Don't tell Liv yet, I want it to be a surprise, but I'm going to let her carry the wicker basket as we tromp through the fields to collect kudzu and dandelions. How romantic it will be in the fields of gold, getting back to our roots.
