Frost Damage, Asparagus & Mom's Bum Leg

Frost-damaged hydrangea

We are now safely past the last frost date for the area according to the experts. The frost on Mother's Day (May 9) and again on May 10 nipped some vulnerable plants in the bud. No damage was done to any of the properties that I am involved with except for a few things at my church. Frozen looks more like fried after a few days. I was asked by Frank to trim the brown off this red maple. I hardly knew where to begin:

The Hydrangea 'Endless Summer' and the new green tips of the yews, above, were also browned. Anyone who tried to fool with the calendar and set their tomatoes or annuals out early will have to start over. Newly emerged leaves will quickly be replaced by new ones, although the newspaper suggests that Christmas tree growers in the area may have lost a year's growth. Hosta, ferns, iris and ASPARAGUS all were vulnerable.

I wondered why the asparagus that was featured at the local supermarket Friday was imported from Peru. Perhaps local supplies were compromised. Damage from the  loss of asparagus, strawberries and fruit trees in the area are still being assessed according to the local paper.

I had recently been reading some blogs of those involved with a new movement that supports eating local--the locavores. Some who are really into the concept apparently take it to irrational extremes--like spending excessively on gas (50 to 100 miles is the usual range of local), wasting that resource, or getting upset that they cannot be totally local (loco?) because salt is not available!

And yet, I was somewhat sensitized to the issue and was annoyed with having to purchase Peruvian asparagus at this time of the year. It seemed like a long way to travel for a vegetable that should be growing all over Michigan.

Asparagus and snow peas were perhaps perceived to be even more desirable in my years on the farm because they were seasonal, and not available as imports from Peru in the South Dakota grocery stores of the 50's. For a few weeks each spring I would hunt for the asparagus in the weeds and long grass that was starting to grow in June at the back of a long-standing grove of trees on our property. Some asparagus grew in the roadside ditches, but I don't recall that we ever gathered any growing "wild." Snapping off and gathering the asparagus spears was one of my jobs, probably because my mother had difficulty walking due to what she called a "bum" leg. She was kept in her hospital bed too long (a week?) with her first child, born in 1937, developing large blood clots which were painful and impeded her movement. I remember her expressing to me how much she regretted not being able to play ball with me--she could not move quickly and could certainly not run. And it was not just because she was overweight, although she was. In her teens she also had one leg severely gashed by a buggy, as in "horse and buggy" and also developed phlebitis in her 60's, so she had multiple leg issues in her lifetime.

I loved playing in the "forest" where that asparagus grew. There was a dilapidated shed (a tipped over old outhouse) back there that made a wonderful playhouse, one of many that I developed over the years. I would be gone for hours, as most kids were in the 50's, walking or biking for miles without a cell phone or any thoughts about safety. Now I think I have to carry my phone with me at all times. I try to wear cargo pants with pockets so that I can "carry" even when I'm on my knees, digging in the dirt.

Two of the vegetable gardens that I have helped with this year (and expect to taste the rewards of) are growing edible pod peas that did not freeze since the April planting and are well on their way to harvest. Over a week ago they were already knee-high:

Snow Peas 5-13-10

Word of the Day: locavore. Look it up! New Oxford American Dictionary Word of the Year, 2007.

Comments of the Day:
I will never be a serious locavore, not because of the SALT as you might guess if you are reading my other blog, but because of coffee--unless I decide to move to Bogota, the birth place of my son-in-law Gustavo, and the capital of the country which exports the only coffee I prefer to drink.

I recycle the coffee grounds by scattering them in the hosta patches to deter (eliminate?) slugs--supposedly the caffeine effect. I have no scientific verification of the efficacy of this practice.