Tom Finneran: Life Slows Down

Friday, April 10, 2020

Tom Finneran, GoLocalWorcester MINDSETTER™

Is this what Appalachia feels like? Or the hollowed-out rust belt of middle-America? Booming Boston and other coastal hotspots are suddenly receiving an ice-cold economic bath…………..

A friend’s business is down more than forty percent! Another friend’s business is closed, and it may not re-open at all. A local businessman ran a great local restaurant---good food, great service, big portions, and great prices. Based upon that model and his proven track record, he opened three more restaurants, taking on debt. His was the most successful business in town and therefore he was a great credit risk and customer for any bank. Now all four restaurants are closed, and he is staring into the abyss. This is not good for him, for his employees, for the town, or for the nation. And yet we all know that the public’s health must take precedence over his balance sheet…………Lord, please let this end soon.

A favorite seasonal diversion is planning the garden and planting the seeds which need an early indoor start. I’ll transplant the seedlings when the warmth of May is well established. Until then, down in the furnace room and under the grow lights, I’ve planned a continuous summer feast and a colorful garden.

Consider the menu:

Zucchini----great on the grill, even better as zucchini boats stuffed with ground beef, tomatoes, and sweet summer corn;
Cauliflower----bang-bang cauliflower, nutritious, delicious, and delightful; mashed cauliflower too;
Cucumbers----not my favorite item but my wife loves fresh sliced cucumbers, well-salted and soaked in vinegar for fine dining;
Pickling cucumbers----make way for homemade bread-and-butter pickles, a great side companion to burgers, tuna fish and other summer sandwiches; and with a good crop, you might carry some all the way through winter;
Lettuce----bibb, romaine, oak leaf, whatever…..so much better than the tasteless iceberg junk they peddle in supermarkets;
Turnip----a late season gem, made even better when kissed by the first frosts of autumn;
String beans----you can fill a big basket on a weekly basis with old-fashioned home-grown bush and pole beans-green, purple, yellow-all worthies to your summer plate;
This year I’m trying two varieties of pumpkin! One variety is a French heirloom, legendary for making soup stock for the long winter ahead; the other variety is the New England pumpkin, a small pumpkin renowned as the main ingredient for the very best pumpkin pies;
Tomatoes----the undisputed king of summer gardens, great in salads and sandwiches and right off the vine; five varieties this year, two cherry varieties and three big-fruited beefsteaks; I can’t wait……………………….

And now for the color palette………….

Multi-hued zinnias, old-fashioned hollyhocks, morning glories, sunflowers, tall phlox, hyssop, sedum, luscious lavender, black-eyed Susans, bee balm, and coneflowers.

Some will feed the bees, some will feed the butterflies, some will feed the birds, and some will feed all three.

Yes, the world has slowed down, at least for now. Make the most of it.