When we came back from Florida last April, my cousin Christine suggested that we join her family in planting a garden: «There are public gardens in Ste-Foy (EN: suburb of Québec City); it would be fun if you could join us, the kids would love it».
Not too far from our home, under Hydro-Quebec electric transmission lines, it is possible to rent a small patch of land, for a few dollars, just waiting for a gardener, small seeds, a little work and the sunshine, to produce home grown fruits and vegetables. I assured her that we would meet her there the next Saturday after breakfast and gave her the money to rent the lot.
All excited, I informed Brian of our new project and there… yes at that precise moment resurfaced a somewhat critical reminder of a story that dates back at least thirty years: «Lyne, do you remember when we were living on Pelissier Street and you wanted a garden… I prepared a small garden 1 meter by 2 meters and at the end of the summer, the only crop was thousands of mint leaves among as many weeds… the whole neighborhood was invaded by mint… a veritable invasion of Ste-Foy… taking care of the garden was not your forte… and therefore, there will be no new garden for me, thank you», the file was closed… we moved on to other things.
The celebrated Saturday that I had promised to meet Christine, at the garden, finally arrives. Brian and I have breakfast at the St-Germain restaurant, in Sillery. This is where we read the daily newspapers, every Saturday: Le Soleil, Le Journal de Québec and The Gazette - next step, the convenience store: the National Post, Le Devoir and La Presse, will occupy the rest of the morning. Except that, that morning, I had other plans.
When we arrived home Brian got out of the car. I stayed inside. «what, you have any other errands? » This is when I announced the big news. «No, I am going to meet Christine, Leigh and the kids at the public garden».
I know that Brian adores Christine and her family, which is why my announcement could be referred to as "the bait". The only thing left to do was, real in the fish!
Brian throws me a funny glance and to my surprise (only somewhat feigned), he proposed he come along, just out of curiosity.
After all, he is the son of a farmer and it doesn’t seem to entirely displease him. We are then on our way to the garden. We planted lettuce, shallots, radishes, red beets, green peas and six nice tomato plants. As for Christine and Leigh, they got into growing squash and zucchinis this year, but that’s another story.
We had a lot of fun all summer nurturing the progress of the garden. We ate lovely lettuce, we had so many radishes, we will forget them for next year, the peas and the beets were succulent… as for tomatoes… what a joy. We have been eating nice juicy tomatoes full of sun for the last month, in soups, salads, spaghetti sauces, with basil, garlic, capers and mixed herbs, in ratatouille, with olive oil, cooked, uncooked… happiness in tomatoes!
In fact, we will do it again next spring… and who knows one day… I always wanted to have a chicken… but I am somehow very skeptical that the man of my life will be fished in on that one.
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