Just Plain Ugly

I haven’t posted any journal entries for more than a year, for various reasons. One factor has been my discomfort with the tension between maintaining appearances and producing vegetables to eat. That is to say, if you expend too much effort cultivating a website, it can detract from your ability to cultivate a garden. But, keeping a record of what I’ve grown is important to me. I’ve been thinking about this and related concepts, and while I want to air out those thoughts here, a more practical, time-saving route is to just post a few photos as a reminder of the importance of record-keeping.

These photos are meant to undercut that tension of maintaining appearances, because they’re honestly gross. But, fascinating too. I wish I had the strength of memory to just keep these images in my head, but I know they’ll fade with time, so here they are in all their gnarliness.

I’m not sure what the popcorn looks like inside the husks yet, although I should probably try to find out soon. But the plants have given me a preview, with what seem to be individual kernals growing straight off the stalk. Super weird. Even more weird, I have a beet that is two and a half years old. It has grown little baby beets on top of itself. It has gone to seed two or three times. The primary beet is maybe the size of a cantaloup. I’m sure it’s as hard as a rock. And finally, I harvested a Joseon shorty today, my first one. I’m not one to use the word rad, but they’re pretty rad. And crispy and delicious. Certainly a hint of melon in there. But as far as looks go, well… see for yourself.