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Second Spring

Second Spring

All I can think about are fried green tomatoes and sense the dissonance as I salivate over the thought of having them for supper. It’s September and I’m changing beds over, pulling things up, summer is over. Fried green tomatoes are for when we are so excited to eat tomatoes that we cannot wait for them to ripen before we tear them from the vine. These tomatoes were planted late, slowed by a cool August and still pulled through to give us enough, but now they must die. The temperature is dropping and although we may still have a few warm days ahead, the fruits are far too young to ripen in time. Now I’m hungry for fried green tomatoes and cannot wait to bring them in.

Fall can be depressing; the days are shorter and colder, plants wither and turn brown, the pumpkin spice debate. Taking down a garden you worked so hard to build and struggled to maintain, or thinking of the garden you wanted to plant but never did. How are you supposed to feel? Fall is when we think about these things, and for good reason. Winter is the reset button in our Minnesota gardens, but it isn't here yet. We had cool weather just a few months ago, and we were humming with expectation putting seeds in much colder ground.

We are able to begin again, to have a second spring, to plant peas, radishes, and lettuce. We can reflect and plan for next year, try something new or look back on what we would do again. To succeed when circumstances are difficult, when more powerful forces are working against you, your effort is the only reason it will or will not happen. Knowing what to keep and what needs to go is difficult (but not always), and making mistakes is expected. The seasons will change no matter what and you can eat fried green tomatoes whenever you want