SCAVENGER

Fri, 03/17/2023 - 13:11

Dinner preparations are going on, and now I’m in charge. When I was a kid I tried to be on hand whenever that was happening. I liked to find pieces of cabbage hearts, celery bottoms, raw potato. I would salt them and amidst many warnings from my grandmothers or my mom, I would eat them. They would shake their heads and return to whatever task called them. One of my grandmothers was sure I was poisoning myself. I wasn’t, though. In fact, I think that habit did me a power of good. Yes, sometimes there was a bit of grit in the celery bottom, but why wouldn’t there be? It was the part that touched the earth. This was in the days before all the pesticides and chemicals were used. As far as I know. But somehow I’m still around at 81, anyway.

Today I’m making an Irish stew. No meat, just lots of vegetables. I can hear my grandmother saying “You can’t eat that potato skin!” Yes, yes, I can. I rarely peel my potatoes, even when making potato salad. I say if you are going to eat a potato, eat the whole potato. I didn’t put the cabbage core in the pot because that’s just for me and my salt shaker. Thin slices, nice and cold. Yum. Better than potato chips.

Scavenging now has become really popular. Even the city now wants our table scraps for composting. Finally, and about time too, and yes let’s all do this! Green bins are the new Robin Hoods, doing what they can to save the earth and us in the bargain.

I think there is something to be said for this approach to all of life. Take what you need, not what you think you want. Don’t let anybody tell you that this or that isn’t going to suit you. If you find it good and pleasing, that’s what you need. Nay sayers may have something to offer you, but it isn’t their nay saying that is going to be of use. You tell you what you want.

I scavenged some flowers from my rain-ravaged garden today. They are by no means perfect, bent and beaten as they have been, but they look pretty happy to me. Anyway, they are making me happier and healthier. Eleven storms in the last several weeks has beaten us this way and that, but we stood it because we know how desperate we are here in California for rain. More on the way next week, too. But for now let’s scavenge some sunshine and appreciate all the green. Oh, and Happy St. Patrick’s Day and don’t forget St. Gertrude!

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