Pass the pumpkin

It's a village game: pass the "whatever-is-in-season". In theory, out of kindness, generosity and good-neighborliness, we share our produce with each other. It bonds the community and gives us a reason to stop by and chat with one another. I don't really chat, I just hand over the goods with a smile and run away. In theory, it sounds good. The problem is that we all have the same produce ripening at the same time. So one person harvests a pumpkin (Japanese kabocha, the green round gourds with orange interiors) and hands it to the neighbor, who doesn't really need it because they have a dozen of their own, so they pass it to the next person, caught in the same predicament ... and around the village it goes. I am positive that it is the same vegetable that circulates. One of these days I am carving my initials in whatever we are harvesting just to see if my theory pans out.

"Pass the flower" is more fun. Anyone who is anyone will exchange flower seedlings with each other. It is always an honor to get flowers from someone else's garden. Sumiko-san brought me about 25 seedlings just as I was going to go indoors after a long day - I painted the door, two coats of paint, weeded the west side, picked up yesterday's weeds, turned the compost, planted the sweet potatoes, planted cucumbers, walked the dog, twice, built a trellis for the sponge gourds and I was tired! But she came over with her arms full of seedlings and such urgency that I had to plant them because tomorrow it will rain.