Worms, Sauce and Homemakers

 On the Porch

Onisha Ellis

I started my day on Saturday in the garden. I had procrastinated for days harvesting the garlic plants. It’s not a particularly difficult task but I seem to be running low on energy. This lack of energy might have something to do with having the grandchildren sleeping over Monday through Wednesday this summer. They are so much fun but by the time they leave I am wasted, but I digress.

After harvesting the garlic, I moved on to the tomatoes. As I was picking them I came across a huge horned  green tomato worm. Gross! I went inside and chose a nice pinchy pair of my husband’s pliers to pull it off the plant. As I held it in the jaws of the pliers it tried to wiggle toward me so I quickly squeezed them shut. It seemed to writhe in agony but it wouldn’t die. Totally repulsed, I took it to the garden wall and smashed it. Just so you know, they have green guts. The next one I found, I called my husband to take care of.

Tomato Horned Worm (Photo credit: jmdgolfman)

The morning was still cool so I moved over to the green bean plants. They were supposed to be runner beans, but only a couple of plants followed their genetic code and actually climbed so a bench was needed to pick them. A row of cucumbers are planted between the beans so I was able to multitask and picks beans and cucumbers at the same time. A quick check of the squash plants and I was done with picking.

Coming back into the house, I assembled my garden bounty of fresh tomatoes, garlic, zucchini and herbs and began washing, chopping, sautéing and boiling. Five exhausting hours later I had a wonderful spaghetti sauce.

I have always admired the women of the past but after making homemade spaghetti sauce, my admiration has increased a hundred fold.

BETTY CROCKER COOK BOOK (Photo credit: Lulu Vision)

Proverbs 31:14