Learning to let go

My parents have such an abundance of garden produce, beef, and eggs that when they tire of eating a vegetable, they feed it to the chickens;  if the chickens freak out and break one of their eggs in their panic, it's no big deal; if a steak has too much fat they simply feed it to the dog.

I CAN'T REMEMBER LIVING IN THAT STATE OF ABUNDANCE!!

Also, poor dear Swiper, the dog, is getting quite rotund and it's probably not good for his heart to be fed a fatty steak dinner.

Anyway, not having a scrap of land to call my own in my entire adult life, I developed pride, container-gardens, and radishes....

I took this photo four years ago because I was so proud of my garden.  I have onions, carrots, oregano, sage, lettuces, peas, and yes, radishes.  Everything was planted from seed, which cost us maybe $5 total.  I am STILL proud of that garden, and only partially because I had to haul 200 lbs of water down a flight of stairs daily to sustain it.

Oh, that garden was beautiful.  We had lettuces:

and peas:

and peppers:

and tomatoes:

Having that garden taught me a lot.  I learned that raccoons like corn and sweet peppers, and that slugs and snails like green lettuce and turnips, and that no one really, truly likes red lettuce.  I also learned that radish greens are edible, and that radishes go from seed to maturity in about 30 days.  When you plan a garden on limited space and time, things like radishes seem like the obvious choice....

I, however, did not inherit my parents' ability to "just let go, walk away" when it comes to a garden.  Everything that comes up must be harvested, must be used, must be put to some purpose.  Even the oregano plant that died while Tim and I were away with family for a week had to be harvested into a dried oregano shaker that I still have in the cabinet 3 years later because, truth be told, I don't like dried oregano as a seasoning.

I was sad and confused when I read conflicting information about the edibility of carrot greens.  We'd been eating radish greens for months, and it just seemed normal to keep eating the greens of root crops.  Unfortunately, all the evidence indicates that carrot greens can be toxic, potato greens are toxic, and rhubarb greens are also pretty bad.  Just because the root or stalk is edible doesn't mean you should eat anything else off that plant.

Okay, what was the point of this post?!

I really, truly envy those with such a good food abundance they can toss whole, ripe, good cantaloupe to the chickens, or toss out a steak to the dog because it had too much fat on it.  I am also grateful that I have lived the less-well-off gardening life, and can truly appreciate every scrap of dirt I have.  No one is an island, and while I've had times of leaching off others' gardening successes, I've also given back.  Like that time I bought a yellow pear tomato plant that no one in the family would eat, it was so gross.  You give, get back, and just keep on going.  I may save all chicken bones now, but someday I'll raise chickens and not know what to do with the surplus.

If I ever get tired of fresh eggs....

If I ever try to plant radishes again....

Feel free to chew me out.  I will deserve it!