Gleaning
We had beautiful weather in Denver today. Eights, sunny. It doesn’t get much better than this.
As I mentioned in yesterday’s post one of the design principles of my kids’ school is Service and Compassion. So today we took advantage of the glorious weather and joined a small group of my coworkers gleaning a zucchini field to get in a some of my son’s service hours for the year. The kids have to do 50 hours a year in high school.
When I signed up for this event I envisioned a day of hard labor but I was thinking in terms of bending over picking the produce. It wasn’t until we got to the field and started picking the squash that I realized that most of our hard work would be getting the monster produce to the trucks at the end of some very long field rows (and I swear they got longer each trip).
Gleaning is done after the farmer has removed the marketable produce from the field. So what was left were the beasts that had grown too large or were too small or weird shaped or discolored. Mostly they were just huge.
We brought one home to photograph (I’m bummed I forgot my camera). The monster above weighs in at 10 pounds (tiny compared to this 59 pounder we found on a google search). We couldn’t fit many in each bin before it was too heavy to carry to the truck.
We were all having a hard time lifting our pizza to our mouths afterwards we were all so worn out from the heavy lifting and carrying. I’m going to be sore tomorrow - field work is no easy task. It definitely gives one an appreciation for those that are willing to pick the food we eat every day.
I’m planning on roasting the squash and hoping the flesh isn’t too bitter to make a soup with. My daughter wants lots of zucchini bread but I think this one is a bit past it’s prime for that.
Tomorrow I hope to get back to my studio. Last week was such a productive week but I haven’t done a stitch of sewing since Tuesday night and I need to find my motivation again. Some weeks things just aren’t right for creative work and I’ve learned not to push it. When I’m ready I know I’ll return, but right now I need some time to focus on other things. Today zucchini, tomorrow ?
Posted by Lisa in: Diversions
Deborah said,
October 1, 2006 @ 8:15 pm
One of my favorite bloggers recently wrote about the resistance stage. I found her thoughts quite interesting. You can read them here. http://anahata.typepad.com/my_weblog/2006/09/i_told_some_of_.html
amber lounder said,
October 2, 2006 @ 8:21 pm
funny I’ve been feeling the same way lately , about not rushing to do too much
all things in due time
Lisa Call said,
October 4, 2006 @ 11:16 am
Deborah - thanks for the link - interesting things to think about in that post.
Thanks for the support Amber - I’ve heard from a lot of folks feeling the same way. Change of seasons maybe?
louise perrin said,
October 7, 2006 @ 3:17 pm
Lisa,
Those giant zucchinis are just perfect for making relish and jam…… and shredding up and freezing in recipe size portions. I prefer them to the smaller ones. I also have an excellent recipe for vegetarian spaghetti sauce that they work well in……..if the skin is tough, I would remove it. Scoop those big seeds out with a spoon, clean em and roast em like squash or pumpkin seeds.
Louise in SW Saskatchewan