August 3, 2015
The Sweet Taste of Summer

These are indeed the glory days of summer, with lush, green vegetation and fresh vegetables and fruits galore.  Yes, nature is in full  production right now. I remember those days of reaping the garden's harvest and enjoying the bounty.  Nothing quite like it.  These days I merely rely on my memory and the farmer's market to provide the pleasure of freshly grown produce.

Going to the farm in southern Iowa was a favorite thing for us city dwellers.  Thankfully we visited often and grew to cherish the farm and the aunts, uncles, and the cousins and grandparents there as well.  So many memories live vividly in my mind.  

My Grandma Hazel's garden was easily the size of half a city block and it was tended with love by my mother and her siblings, under grandma's direction. The garden produced, I'm sure, most of what the family needed for nourishment.  And what wasn't eaten fresh was preserved for the long winter months ahead. Maintaining that garden surely was no easy task and took hours of planting, weeding and harvesting.  There was no time to be bored on the farm in those days.

Grandma's creamed corn was a favorite of mine and I ate it with relish whenever she prepared it.  Her dish, of course, used freshly cut-from-the-cob corn kernels and farm-fresh cream.  Oh, so tasty that corn was that I recall gobbling it up happily.  Fried chicken was another staple and to this day remains a personal favorite.  The chicken was also harvested fresh from the coop just outside the backdoor of the old farmhouse.  And always, grandma would make a delightful angel food cake for dessert.  Sometimes, often with the number of cousins and birthdays abounding, the cake was topped with candles.

Family time at the farm was special and we were so fortunate to be a part of it.  A vivid memory of mine, as a youngster of not more than 7 or 8 years of age, is the arrival of Aunt Jeanne and Uncle Arthur bearing freshly picked strawberries and the fixings for homemade ice cream.  Our aunt and uncle were, it seemed, larger than life and exuded a rather sophisticated aura, even though they were country bred folk.  Aunt Jeanne always was beautifully appointed from her hair to her toes and Arthur possessed an unmistakable likeness to John Wayne or some other movie hero icon.

My uncle, with a tender heart the size of the state of Iowa, and voice to match, scooped me up in a rollicking welcome and I feeling frightened for some reason. But I soon forgot that trepidation when the ice cream making process began.  Fresh cream, sugar and eggs went into that mixture and Arthur's strong arms began cranking the handle of that ice cream machine out on the back porch.  It wasn't long, it seemed and it was ready.  Delectable fresh ice cream was dished up and topped with strawberries that seemed to melt faster than the ice cream.

Oh such memories!  And all brought on by the taste of freshly grown snap peas today.  There are days more numerous than imaginable when I wish I could travel back in time to that very night at the farm when family gathered, delicious food was abundant, and loved ones gathered all around.  Such joy!

Everything about life at grandpa and grandmas' farm was memorable and I will forever keep those thoughts in my heart.