Alla used to work in a commercial greenhouse, and she is really efficient at planting seeds. Where a typical gardener will scatter seeds and then thin out the crop, Alla distributes the seeds such that every plant will survive. And she’s really quick about it. She put these skills to work this spring when she went to help out our landlords when they planted early crops at their dacha. Now everybody is suffering.
The seeds belonged to Anna Adamovna, who brought them home from Germany. She bought them based on the pictures because the labels were written in Chinese. Now she has a lot of bok choy, which she is afraid to cook or eat, huge amounts of lettuce, and an abundance of green onions and garlic, dill, parsley and other very green stuff. Her soil seems to be extremely fertile because the plants shot up like Jack’s beanstalk. Now she is overwhelmed with produce which she delivers to us in bulk every time she comes home from the dacha.
Alla and I demurred. “Gee,” we said, “you’re awfully generous but you shouldn’t give us your whole garden.”
“I’m not giving you my whole garden,” she replied. “I don’t even like green vegetables as much as Evgenny Ivanovich and we just can’t eat this stuff as quickly as it’s growing.” Fortunately, it turns out that Alla and I can, and we’re enjoying it very much. All winter long I was dying to eat more vegetables, especially fresh ones. Now I am making up for my period of starvation, and it tastes really great. I can hardly believe the sense of wealth and abundance we are enjoying through our landlords’ generosity.
It’s a real shame that we can’t stay through the month of July as we originally intended, because I think we’d eat pretty well. And just as that garden thrives, the same green splendor fills the city. Yesterday I rode my bike across a recently-mowed field and reveled in the scent of the cut green stalks of who-knows-what and chatted with the birds that flitted around like characters in a Disney movie. It sure is green here right now.
The seeds belonged to Anna Adamovna, who brought them home from Germany. She bought them based on the pictures because the labels were written in Chinese. Now she has a lot of bok choy, which she is afraid to cook or eat, huge amounts of lettuce, and an abundance of green onions and garlic, dill, parsley and other very green stuff. Her soil seems to be extremely fertile because the plants shot up like Jack’s beanstalk. Now she is overwhelmed with produce which she delivers to us in bulk every time she comes home from the dacha.
Alla and I demurred. “Gee,” we said, “you’re awfully generous but you shouldn’t give us your whole garden.”
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It’s a real shame that we can’t stay through the month of July as we originally intended, because I think we’d eat pretty well. And just as that garden thrives, the same green splendor fills the city. Yesterday I rode my bike across a recently-mowed field and reveled in the scent of the cut green stalks of who-knows-what and chatted with the birds that flitted around like characters in a Disney movie. It sure is green here right now.
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| Not the same field, but you get the idea |
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