I’m savoring the end of a hot summer day, watching the Yankees, shelling peas.
And considering something radical.
These are the last shelling peas of the season. Calculating how far I could stretch this sweet green joy of summer, I asked the farmer how long they would keep in the pods. She suggested I shell them and pop them in the freezer.
I demurred. “I don’t freeze food,” I said. And truly, the freezer is the emptiest space in my home.
“Neither do I,” said the farmer, “But I freeze peas.”
I bought an extra bagful, and now I’m contemplating the unthinkable.
Freezing food has never appealed to me. Living on Manhattan island, fresh food in abundance, it’s hardly a necessity.
But the farmer got me thinking, and not just about freezing. Now I’m analyzing what led me to reconsider a long held position, one that was simply not open for debate.
Many times each year, I face the end of a cherished vegetable’s season, but never before have I considered freezing them to buy some time. What’s different now?
This is the first time this particular farmer suggested it. I’ve been buying strawberries, veggies and an occasional fresh brook trout from her since my grown kids were little kids, one in the snuggly, one by the hand.
She’s not certified organic; she’s heart-and-soul organic. She eats what she sells.
I don’t trust the legal organic label, with its month-long sell-by date on milk. (How fresh is month-old milk?)
I trust the farmer. I share her values. She’s an expert, knowledgeable about her food, generous with her knowledge, and with samples.
I trust her, and I’m grateful I can buy from her.
Which is why these peas may be headed for the freezer. If I don’t eat them first.
What’s ripe for change in your life?
Good to know what to change and what to freeze (preserve) in our lives, and know that if I change, I can still be true to my core, but in a new way.
FYI, for those of us in the NYC area, where can we find the farmer?
You can find Franca of Berried Treasures at Union Square West at 15th Street on Wednesdays, Broadway and 17th Street on Fridays, and Columbus Avenue near 78th Street on Sundays.
Many other wonderful farmers bring their food to greenmarkets in all five boroughs of New York City. You can find the ones convenient to you here http://www.cenyc.org/ourmarkets.
Your lovely journey to the freezer has offered me an opportunity for sweet reflection. Thank you. New mantra for myself: I am open to see what is calling me to change.
Wonderful, Babette!
Consistent, continuing Reiki practice leads us into ever deepening understanding, not just of the practice, but of ourselves, and life itself.
Today only.
The more poised we are, open to reconsider anything, the more likely others will be drawn to that ease within us, and feel more open to hearing about Reiki, rather than repelled by our need to enroll them.
We’ve been gardening a large garden for over 20 years in So. Cal. We’ve been freezing and dehydrating the abundance all these years. Fresh, blanched green beans picked in June, steamed in November taste like summer and are far more nutritious than what we can buy in the store: fresh or frozen. We share, dehydrate and freeze what we can’t eat. (It’s a really big garden) What else works from the freezer? Roasted tomatoes, chard rolls (amazing), amaranth, berries for baking, fava beans, bell peppers, tomatillos, lemon and lime juice, peaches. We are still learning. Our garden teaches us something every year about nature and ourselves. Just came in from the garden where I shared Reiki with green beans poking their heads out of the ground, planted for a Fall harvest.