The Giving Garden...

The other evening, the phone rang and my brother asked me if I would mind picking the blueberries in his garden. He would be busy chauffeuring an elderly aunt around town for the next few days and he was afraid that the garden would go the wayside.  "Oh...and check the beans, there might be a few..and yeah, the squash...oh, the blackberries might need to be picked as well."  Sure, I did not mind.  Well, Son and I headed northward to my brother's place bright and early this morning.  It is about a fifteen minute drive if one does not drive leisurely and observe all the progress (or not progress) along the way.  With Michael driving, I got to see all the changes that have occurred since the last time I left the Bayou so it took a bit longer.  A lot is different.

A sampling of the garden bounty!

Once we arrived, the first thing Michael and I noticed were the blueberry bushes!  My brother planted his the year after we did ours..his are huge..ours are struggling.  Next to the bushes, there was a long row of squash and then two rows of green beans.  The garden was as neat as a pin!  Things were flourishing!  Son and I decided to start with the beans.  I told Michael that his uncle said there would only be a few...HA!  That few turned into two bucketfuls!  These were bush beans so most of the morning was spent hunched over with our buckets being shoved along in front of us.  My goodness!  Those beans were full and had hundreds of new blossoms!  No lack of produce there!  Then we opted for the blueberries.  We figured that we would go for the hardest things first!  The squash would be easy after the beans and blueberries.  Two hours later, we were still picking those berries!  I do believe that they were ripening as fast as we could pick!  All the while, the sun was climbing higher and higher in the sky.  Sweat beaded on my forehead and ran down my neck..so hot.  Three bucketfuls of blueberries and we called it quits!!! Enough of that, those squash and blackberries still needed picking!  I have never seen so many squash on one plant before!  These were butternut squash so each plant was a long vine.  Squash were laying everywhere!  We picked...many, many squash.  I looked at Son..he was hot..I was hot..how in the world does my brother do this every day???  Michael and I are so used to the cooling breezes coming off the Bay that this garden surrounded by trees seemed like an oven!  He and I were diligent!  We picked!  The blackberries were easy!  Someone had already picked!  What a relief!  Michael and I loaded his little car with all the buckets of goodies and headed homeward!

Blueberries from my brother's garden!

Once back at home, we set to work canning and freezing all of this produce.  While the pressure canner was puffing away with the jars of green beans tucked inside, I sat and thought of my brother's garden. That garden is a lot like the man that plants and tends it. It gives. The rows are neat and trim and the bushes and plants are obviously well tended.  If ever there was someone with a proverbial green thumb, it is this man.  I am thinking that he inherited Pop's gardening skills.  I remember one time that Pop told me that to make your garden do well, you should share it with others.  Perhaps that is why Tommy's garden is flourishing..he shares with everybody.  This man gives so much..not just garden produce but everything.  If there is a need, he tries to fill it..sometimes even to the point that he does without.  He gives.  He truly gives.