In the opening scenes of the 1981 film Mommie Dearest, Faye Dunaway as Joan Crawford goes through her morning routine. You see her plunging her face into a bowl of ice water and steaming herself in a hot shower. I thought of this scene yesterday as I was preparing green beans to freeze. With the blanching and the ice bath it felt like I was Joan Crawfording the beans!
As a young boy in the Midwest, I was surrounded by skilled gardeners. I have a memory bank full of images of me standing in my grandfather’s garden as he reaped and sowed his way to a bountiful harvest. And, yet, I absorbed very little of that garden knowledge myself. I was always preoccupied with singing the latest Madonna tune and dreaming of my future as a famous celebrity correspondent for Entertainment Night to pay attention to what my grandpa was doing. Why the hell would I need to know how to farm?! I was going to go live in the city!