Soybeans

Tonight I harvested my soybeans. Most of the pods have gone the golden brown of harvest, and the pods themselves rattle in the wind as you pull them off the stalk. I had never grown soybeans until two years ago, and found the experience delightful. I like them as edamame, as slowly drying and slightly chewy, and even as dried.

The disappointing part this year is that I did not get that many.

Why? Because my careful allocate rows were overcome by the pumpkin I planted, which overran everything. Part of it is my fault - when I got the pumpkin and planted it, I though I could control the growth. I had no idea it would be so productive.

Actually, the other part is my fault as well. I had a plan for my garden, and I ignored it. The pumpkin was a late addition, something I had not originally planned, and it got up and over everything - my cucumbers, beans, tomatoes, and peppers all suffered because of it.

It reminds me, just as in life, how little things -especially the unplanned, last minute things that we suddenly let in over part of our plan -can overwhelm our life. Sin especially, but even things that are good but are not best - if not rooted out and ignored, they can have a vegetative growth in our lives effect, crowding out the things that are good and shading them to the point that they are stunted and die.

Next year, if I grow a pumpkin, it will be on a trellis, and away from the garden. If only I can remember to trellis the other things in my life as well...