Gardens are calling. Some gardens are fairly shouting by this time of year. “Yo! Over here! Do me!”
Apples, rhubarb, peaches, berries -- obviously, gardens provide ingredients for delicious homemade pies. Now, in mid-February, those fruits are far off. Depending on where you live and what gardening arrangements you have, you may already be nurturing a winter garden of vegetables. But fruits? Those respond to spring warmth, water and bees.
Ah, bees. What would we do without them? Starve to death. They pollinate our gardens and crops everywhere. And right now, bees in North America are being threatened by “Colony Collapse Disorder,” where the worker bees mysteriously and abruptly disappear.[1]
And it’s not just the pollinating that’s good. What about that honey? Besides being a nectar of golden goodness, honey has many noted health benefits, both nutritional and medicinal. Check them out here.
This is definitely the time of year for dreaming of gardens-to-come, lush, verdant, fertile: Peas dripping off of vines, little curling wisps holding them to the garden twine; cucumbers stretching out in the shade of their own big leaves; an abundance of berries, cherries, and apricots. And always, tomatoes!
Beyond providing the goods for pies, why do we pie bakers love our gardens? To me, the two are related by a love of the Earth herself, a knowingness about the connection we have with the Earth and all things that are round, yin, grounded, based in nurturing and love.
People instinctively enjoy growing food. And it gives us an opportunity to be grateful for all that the Earth gives us and for our chance to nurture her in return. Yes, gardens are work – the planning, the prepping the soil, the planting, the watering, the endless weeding, even the harvesting takes energy. But what gardens give back, when we pat the Earth and watch for new growth, is priceless.
And pies are like gardens, don’t you think? Full of goodness, created with effort, tended with intention and love, requiring planning & cleanup as well as providing nurturing and enjoyment. There’s nothing like lifting a bubbling, breathing pie from the oven!
So, today, let’s thank our bees, plan our gardens, and think about making a pie or tart that features local honey, as we look forward to the abundance to come. Try the “Honey Nut Tart” and toast the bees that bring us this opulent goodness.
[1] Colony collapse, first noted in 2006 with a drastic rise in the number of disappearances of honey bee colonies, is significant economically and ecologically (because bees play such a significant role in the reproduction of plants). Read more about CCD and possible reasons here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colony_collapse_disorder
