Fresh from the Garden

As a long-time bug hater, one of the concessions I made when starting a garden was that I might actually come in contact with a bug. Possibly, I might touch a worm. And while the seasoned gardeners in the audience will laugh or scoff at the notion that I avoided such in-depth outdoor practices to avoid this contact, I know there are some out there who sympathize with my discomfort. My husband is not one of them. He will gaze in amazement at a spotted moth (and man, do we have BIG ones back here!) while I try to act interested, and gently coax him into moving the moth outside, where it belongs.

So one of my biggest surprises throughout this gardening experience has been the lack of bugs involved. Well, let's put that differently- there have been very few insects or worms that have bothered me.

Until today.

I have been very excited about our broccoli. We have picked about 23 heads off our plants so far- perfect, green, wonderful broccoli. In reading and talking with people, I knew that I needed to soak them in salt water, which will drive small bugs out.

Though a bit squeamish about the idea of bugs coming out of the broccoli, and then having to fish them out of my sink, I was willing to move past this point. (Ok, bribe Phil into picking the bugs out). I sprinkled some salt in the sinkful of water and soaked the first batch for about 2 hours. To my amazement, there were no bugs to be seen. Too good to be true? I picked up a couple of heads and examined- no bugs there- must have been a clean batch. Surely the rinsing made all the difference. The batch was boiled, and frozen in bags.

A few days later, I was talking about this wonderful broccoli with a neighbor. They asked "Oh? Are they very wormy?" I replied confidently- "No, I haven't seen any worms...not even any bugs!" She hesitated, and then said "That's great!"

Yesterday, I cut up a new batch from the garden. I put them in the same salt soak, but ran out of time to boil them. I took out handfuls and shook them off, tossed them into a big pot and threw the whole mess of them into the fridge.

Today I took out the batch, ready to ship some fresh broccoli home with Grandma. To my surprise, I noticed a green worm crawling up the side of the pot. I thought "how in the world...?" Then I began to look closer. There were worms on multiple stalks. AFTER the salt soak. The green worms just blended in perfectly with the green stems, and only by close examination could they be detected.

I thought back to the previously boiled and frozen batch. And the conversation with the neighbor. The hesitancy in her reply must have been a mental note: "Silly worm eaters..."

I hopped on the internet, and found that my "light salt soak" recipe was way too weak. I was using about 3 tablespoons for a sinkful, when I should have been using about a cup. Those worms were just sitting there enjoying the cool bath! Not dying, not crawling out from under the bushy heads.

Now, this presented a big problem for me. The occasional garden worm was one thing- a pot full of camouflaged green worms was quite another. But, I hate to see food go to waste. I held my breath, and reasoned with myself: this was the cost of a garden. So I filled that pot with cold water, and more than made up for my initial lack of salt. I intentionally "hit" some of the green offenders and watched to ensure the proper reaction took place.

And then I let it sit. Not the half hour recommended on the internet, no, I needed to be sure. Four hours sounded good enough. And don't think there was any more collective rinsing. No, individual broccoli heads were inspected- all 87 of them - to ensure there were no worms or other crawling creatures along for the ride. When all was said and done, I looked in the bottom of the pot- to make sure there were bugs down there.

So, novice gardeners, beware if NO bugs come off of your food. We might not like to see them, but we probably like to eat them even less.