I noticed on our last walk that the ditch was spilling over its bank on the back side of the hill. I thought I should check it. It was another beautiful late October day, perfect for a morning walk. This time I took my hoe, some plastic bags and my camera! Sure enough the water was still running down the hill. Maybe more now than a couple of days ago. The ditch is being overrun with the roots of willow trees that grow here. After several attempts I could see the hoe did little good in this situation. I did manage to make some makeshift dams that slowed the water in most places to a trickle. "Good enough," I thought. "At least until Mike can deal with it better."
In my family one of the bright spots of the year was a springtime "mess of greens" as my mom used to call them. It would usually be mustard greens gathered from the fields or watercress gathered from a ditch. On my last walk I had noticed the watercress in our ditch was growing. Thus the plastic bags! It looked clean and healthy to me, bright green, not blooming. So... I plucked a bag full. I couldn't see why it wouldn't taste just as good in the fall as it does in the springtime. When I got home I picked it over to make sure there were no leaves or sticks, snails or other wigglers, then soaked it in cool, salted water just in case I may have missed something. While it soaked I dug new potatoes and pulled an onion from my garden. My pork "boil meat" was already doing just that, boiling in the pot with a bit of garlic. I added the onion and potatoes. After a bit in went the watercress. In no time at all the house like "home"! When suppertime came that watercress tasted just as good as I remembered... springtime or fall makes no difference!
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