Hod Full of Leeks

Do you grow your own food? If so, you know the immense satisfaction of harvesting veggies and fruit — fresh, ripe, and just in time for a meal — that you’ve cultivated from seed or seedling. Nurtured like faith flowering, and then selected at the perfect moment for eating, for sharing,… This is but one bountiful reward of organic gardening. These images of my garden hod full of leeks reminds me (and possibly you?) that yet another luxury of growing your own food is the breathtaking beauty of produce during the garden-to-table process.

I romance the harvest — and even gardening itself — as much for the aesthetic indulgence as the gastronomic rewards.

First, disinterring the sturdy shoots from the earth, I grasp the bundle of leek leaves, slowly pulling the tightly wound sheaths that gradually release, followed by a mop of white roots.

A subtle oniony aroma as I strip the dirty outer sheathes and spray water from a hose to rinse away soil from the roots.

Then I gather the harvest and head to the house with a hod full of leeks. White roots, white slightly bulbous bases growing greener, faintly at first, then transitioning to dark green where the sheaths have been exposed to the sunlight.

Then trimming the roots and the darker green sheath tops, I inhale the unmistakably fresh fragrance, and plan my recipe… Perhaps vichyssoise?

Leek Haiku

Garden to table,
lanky leeks in white stockings,
potato potage.