Season’s Over

Granted, I like having seedless red grapes all year long, even if the January ones come from Chile. Just having them seedless is in itself a huge step forward in my opinion. However,, I do appreciate the slogan, “Buy locally.” Having certain fruits from a special place at a certain time stirs my blood like telling a hunter, “Deer season opens next week.” Strawberries at their best were in April/May in Tangipahoa Parish. Freestone peaches, though more costly, still arrive from the Carolinas in August, yet fresh peach cobbler with just picked Fredericksburg peaches makes July 4 extra special. I have fought birds to be the first to just ripe LSU figs, yet I never knew of Elephant Ear figs until I drove to Glorieta to teach over several summers.

My childrenhood story of what Labor Day means is this. My daddy’s edict was that was the last time to trust eating a good watermelon. Faithful readers will know my daddy was an ag man and could have written the Farmers’ Almanac. Memorial Day to Labor Day or you missed your chance. We never bought one that I remember. Instead we drove down parish roads to a student’s family farm. After crossing a cattle guard to the fenced pasture, we engaged in back and forth conversation with the owner, who would then bring out one or two to see which passed the thumping test, a rite of taste testing I never understood. I think a hand shake took the place of monetary exchange and we went home to cool the melon. Finally the moment came to cutting thick circles, quartering, and eating them in the back yard, so the juice running down your elbow fell on the ground.

I don’t really have a place to cool a uncut melon nor the skill to cut perfect circles and then to complete the final step of trimming the green rind off to make watermelon rind preserves, a crispy treat never found on grocery shelves. I’m 308 miles from a summer memory and had to salve a longing with a plastic tub of prepared red fruit from Kroger. Houston has provided its own treats for each season, yet part of me understands the longings of the Israelites for the variety that for them was once grown locally.

“We remember the fish which we used to eat free in Egypt, the cucumbers and the melons and the leeks and the onions and the garlic,”

Numbers 11:5