An Imperfect Garden and the Autumn Harvest

I harvested the last of the early patch of cabbage this morning, then I harvested the first of the late patch of cabbage -- two heads of cabbage today.

The last head of the early cabbage is by far the scrawniest of all of the heads from that patch, a head of red cabbage. As I was harvesting the last couple of months, I would choose which head I'd harvest based on how good it looked (picking the best-looking ones first). This last one nearly sat (and rotted) for winter in the garden. It was badly slug-chewed on the outer leaves and so little. Now on the positive side, it's dense and heavy for its size. After washing, I cut it in half to see how it looked inside. It actually looked pretty good inside, although small.

I think I planted the late patch just a little too late. Those heads haven't had the time (or sunlight) to form large and dense heads. Learning your own garden is a process. Today I harvested the first from that patch, a green head of cabbage. There was one larger and denser, but it has more slug damage. So I chose the better-looking head. It is very loose and lightweight. But it will still provide a family salad, despite its size. 

That is what matters about the produce in the garden -- as imperfect as it may be, it provides meals for my family. I don't need to sell it, put it in a show, or show it off to anyone. I just need to feed my family some organic vegetables during a time of year when the garden is actively producing very little.

My garden will bear less before it bears more. That's the cycle of gardens. Shopping in stores where most every kind of produce can be bought at any time of the year, and abundance is never in danger, it's easy to take produce for granted. We buy too much, so some spoils before it can be used. Oh well, we toss it out and don't give it a second thought. 

For the generations that came before us and depended heavily on everything they could grow or raise, fruits and vegetables, perfect or imperfect, were always welcome and used. My great great grandparents were farmers. I can imagine that with the knowledge that there would be less before there was more, imperfect autumn cabbages were most certainly used. I can't think  of a single good reason why I shouldn't do the same.