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<\/a>A fine, upstanding young okra plant, ready to get to work<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/p>\n
Back to our pre-walk garden tour, it had rained that day and everything was fresh and green and vibrant.\u00a0 We saw lush bush beans, their bright purple blossoms peeking out from the midst of the green.\u00a0 We saw some remaining lettuces and endive, leafy reds and greens we’ll soon be eating.\u00a0 We saw my new strawberry pot dotted all around with bright green strawberry plants.\u00a0 Oh, and look at the lovely okra plants, so rich, so full of leaves.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Behind the scenes at Okra Central, another young promising pod<\/p><\/div>\n
And, wait a minute, what’s this?\u00a0 Mrs. Gardener’s sharp eye caught what her husband’s missed: actual okra!\u00a0 Why was I surprised?\u00a0 Last year, I planted the okra late and didn’t get any until well into July.\u00a0 Not only that, the spring garden harvest though nearing its end, is still in progress.\u00a0 Most, though not all, of our bushels of lettuce have gone to that great tossed salad in the sky (by way of our grateful palates), and the peas are finished.\u00a0 We enjoyed turnips, now gone, and\u00a0a\u00a0few beets before deer marauders plundered the rest.\u00a0 The\u00a0chard will continue all summer if I keep it watered\u00a0and the spinach was dismal, yielding\u00a0only one small mess.\u00a0 Since summer crops are not quite\u00a0even adolescents yet, still youthful, showing fresh, green promise but no fruit, I wasn’t even looking for anything.\u00a0 Finding four serviceable okra was a real treat.\u00a0 We picked them then and there to set aside for an after-walk snack.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Okra is its own reward<\/p><\/div>\n
Four fried okra, perfectly tender, delectably sweet, were\u00a0just the right\u00a0snack after walking off our extra energy.\u00a0 I am thrilled the okra are producing already and am conjuring\u00a0in my mind’s eye\u00a0the plates of fried okra, bowls of okra-tomato stew and even jars of pickled okra\u00a0we will enjoy.\u00a0 I see these four as the vanguard of a great okra army whose advance I eagerly anticipate.<\/p>\n
And how funny that I was so busy being impatient waiting for the garden to produce, I completely missed its first summer crop production!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sounds like the name of a dish: Sunset Okra Surprise, like something a southern chef might have concocted.\u00a0\u00a0 It’s what delighted us yesterday at dusk. We\u00a0were hoping for\u00a0a post-supper, post-Jeopardy wave of\u00a0calm to wash over us but no, we knew … Continue reading