It was the makings of a Steve Miller song.
Standing under the sagging branches of a kieffer pear tree in the Cherry Lane orchard in Vineland, my mind's ear couldn't help but hear the classic rocker croon 'Really love your peaches, wanna shake your tree.'
In this case, though, the song could have easily been sung about pears as volunteer Rowan Shirkie ingeniously shook the arthritic limbs of pear trees to quickly weed out all the ones ripe for the picking — without having to pick them.
With a plastic tarp laid on the ground below, all that needed to be done was a simple scoop and dump into a basket. Really, I don't know where I'd be without the resourceful crew of people who have helped with Garden of Eating — Niagara picks this year. Well, I could wager a guess: perhaps stuck up a pear tree somewhere still trying to fill a basket with fruit.
Our efforts today netted us nearly 700 pounds of pears that will be canned by Niagara Catholic District School Board students and delivered to Community Care.
By far, it was the largest harvest in the Garden of Eating's history. And the only reason we stopped was because our baskets and trunks were full. We barely made a dent in all the fruit that eventually will fall to the ground and rot.
Still, a big victory — huge, in fact — and one that comes compliments of Cherry Lane in Vineland, who donated the fruit.
But it's the small victories that have kept the Garden of Eating going for much of this year and for which, I'm equally as grateful.
Take the phone call that came Thursday night from a woman with five extra butternut squash from her garden. Too much squash, not enough people in her family to eat it. They are five of the most beautiful squash I've seen. Nearly flawless and almost all perfectly bell-shaped.
They will be delivered Tuesday to the Ozanam Centre in St. Catharines where the soup kitchen feeds as many as 70 to 100 people a day.
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Butternut squash donated to the Garden of Eating — Niagara. |
Next year, the woman who gave the squash plans to grow an extra row of vegetables for the Garden of Eating — Niagara to deliver to social agencies in need.
No, it won't come near a record harvest but this is still, by far, a huge gesture and one for which I am immeasurably grateful. The woman who made the offer is elderly, could easily decide to pare down her garden instead, work less and relax more, but no. She plans to break ground for people she doesn't know, only knows that she wants to help.
At a pear pick last Wednesday, I was also offered up some beautiful land in a sun-filled St. Catharines backyard. The people who live there are no longer able to tend to the gardens that have been carved out of the yard so the offer was made. "Do you know anyone who could use it?" the daughter of the homeowner asked.
I already have visions of what can grow there. So does one of the volunteers from the pick who lamented his shade-filled yard and saw the promise of the growing season ahead thanks to this offer of yard sharing.
And there's room for more. I see a jungle of tomato plants, hunched over with heavy bulbous fruit, perkier pepper plants proffering up their goodness and more. Maybe lettuce. Or squash. Beans. Chard. Let me know if you'd like to share in the plot for your own use or to donate the harvest.
The possibilities seem endless. Much like the stomachs in need of filling.
Small victories but they all add up.
And for that, I am thankful.
