Garden Fresh Veggies Taste the Best, But Sometimes They Don’t…

Do you like vegetables? I do! I love them! Broccoli, brussels sprouts, cauliflower, spinach, carrots, green beans, peas, zucchini and many more! But tomatoes are my favorite. Okay, so tomatoes are technically a fruit, but they’ll always be considered a vegetable to my taste buds. 

My husband loves vegetables. My children love them, too. Well, mostly. There are a few veggies they do not care for. Like green peppers. And green beans. Maybe they have an aversion to the color green. Or vegetables with the word green in their name.  Because of our love for veggies, we plant a garden every year. We live in a wooded area and our soil is very rocky. Our little community is often referred to as “Rock Top”, which is self-explanatory. And also very accurate.

We haven’t always had the best of luck with a traditional tilled garden, so we opted for raised bed gardens. My oh-so-handy (and handsome) husband built six beautiful raised beds. He even constructed a hoop house, which is essentially a portable greenhouse. He filled the beds with dirt. Or soil. Or whatever the proper term is.  Then he mixed in some chicken poop from our very own chickens. Next came the planting of all the yummy vegetables: spinach, zucchini, onions, peas, and of course, tomatoes! As a final touch, we covered the garden with old hay from our goat pen, mixed with tiny petrified poop pellets. And when I say we, I mean my husband. He is the one who handles the poop. Both chicken and goat. He’s an expert poop spreader!

Over the next few weeks, we watered and waited and watched our vegetables grow. It was exciting to see those little bits of green pushing up through the brown soil. One evening, my husband and I stopped to check on our garden on our way home from our nightly walk. We love to walk together in the evenings. It gives us a chance to talk and hold hands and catch up on all the news of the day. Also, it’s kind of romantic. As we approached the garden, we could see the lettuce was doing very well. In fact, it was almost ready to pick. But it was still a little small and needed a few more days to grow. My husband thought otherwise. He reached down, plucked a leaf from the soil, handed it to me, and said “Here, taste it.” 

Aww! How sweet! He wanted me to have the first taste. So, I took the leaf from his outstretched hand, put it in my mouth, and began to chew. Along about the fourth chew, my loving hubby said “Of course, you probably should have rinsed the goat poop off first.” Umm…eww! And then I spewed that chewed-up lettuce leaf out of my mouth. It hit the ground near his feet. I should have aimed better! I thought he was being so sweet! And romantic. And loving. But, no! He just wanted me to eat goat poop! 

He laughed as I continued spitting. The offending lettuce leaf had been expelled upon the first spit, but I continued expectorating until I was convinced any trace of goat poop that had entered my mouth had been successfully evicted! Logically, I knew I had not put poop in my mouth. But just the mention of goat pellets caused me to hesitate. And spit. And chase my husband around the yard in hopes of catching him.  So I could smack him. 

The funny thing is, I was actually enjoying the lettuce until goat poop was mentioned. It tasted good!  And then I remembered the chicken poop! There was a chance the lettuce also contained traces of chicken poop! Eww, again! And might I add, Yuck! My vegetables were covered in two kinds of animal droppings! And even though the thought of ingesting goat and or chicken poop disgusted me, I knew it was necessary for the growth of those vegetables. 

Much like those vegetables, God often allows us to endure unpleasant circumstances that help us grow. Like goat poop in a garden. Romans 5:3-4 says “Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.” God allows us to go through difficulties, struggles, hard times, sickness, and other yucky things to refine us, grow us, teach us, and transform us! And while we are going through those hardships, God wants us to rejoice in our suffering! Which is not an easy thing to do. Like goat poop on a lettuce leaf, it does not taste good, but it is necessary for growth.  Without sorrow, we wouldn’t know joy. Without struggles, we wouldn’t know triumph. Without turmoil, we wouldn’t know peace. And without poop in the garden, vegetables wouldn’t grow. At least not as well! 

It’s a wonderful thing to enjoy farm-fresh veggies, plucked straight from the garden! Just be sure to wash them first!