A few last days of summer

Katie D.

September 12, 2010 - 8:37 PM

What a glorious weekend! This has been exactly what I needed: sunshine and quiet, a chance to unwind a little from three whirlwind weeks of grad school. Eugene winter is already closing in with clouds and rain, and pretty soon I'll be biking through puddles and around masses of autumn leaves. But this weekend was perfect.

One of my favorite things about Eugene is the fruit. Fruit everywhere. This year has been incredible for blackberries and plums. This afternoon I sat in my backyard, reading for class and feeling the sun in my hair. My whole yard smells like plums rotting in the sun. Which is much more wonderful than it sounds, I promise. It smells rich and sweet, like a harvest. The plums in my backyard were small and not overly sweet. But elsewhere...

Colorado is not known for it abundance of biodiversity or ease of growing things. Between the hot, dry summers, the cold, dry winters, and the high elevation, we just can't sustain the explosion of growing things that Eugene boasts. I remember so clearly that the first time I was here was mid summer, looking at colleges. My mom and I stopped along a random stretch of highway to pick blackberries on the side of the road. All this fruit growing with such wild abandon is a miracle to me. Something I always have to take advantage of.

Since that first impromptu blackberrying trip, I have spent a good deal of time sampling the fruit around town. Blackberries, apples, plums, cherries. There's a delightful word I discovered two years ago: scrumping. To scrump is to steal fruit (particularly apples) from someone's orchard or garden. Guilty as charged.

Here's my theory on scrumping in Eugene: if there's fruit rotting under the tree, then help yourself. I never take fruit from well-tended trees, or from people's front yard vegetable gardens. I even pass by ripe strawberries, despite their spot on the top of my favorite foods list. If someone is tending a plant and raising food, then I applaud them and look with great envy at their efforts. But if someone has a fruit tree for the flowers and foliage, and allows perfectly good fruit to go bad on their lawn, then I don't even hesitate. If someone wanted some of our plums, I'd be thrilled.

And you wouldn't believe the quality of some of the fruit growing wild and neglected in this city.

I have more than a pound of blackberries frozen already, waiting for a winter of blackberry oatmeal. A new friend has promised to teach me to can applesauce and maybe even jelly. I stop every day as I ride my bike home, picking yellow plums and eating them until I start to feel a little sick. I've been known to go blocks out of my way to pass by a cherry tree.

This weekend was a time of renewal for me. A chance to take a deep breath and regroup. It has been a wild three weeks of school so far. I have one week left of this introductory class. Then I'm taking a week off and going to Tucson to work with No More Deaths. [http://www.isupportuoregon.org/my_duckstory/blog/katie_d/no_more_deaths_spring_break_2010] I can't wait to be back there, in that place that I love so dearly, doing the work and having an adventure. But it's going to be a frantically busy time, and then school starts again September 27th with five classes, my GTF, and all the pressures of a full schedule.

I needed a break, and some sun. I got both.

I have some good news to report as well. My grandfather is doing much better. He is still recovering and it's going to be a long process and a lot of work, but he's a tough guy. I'm still sending all the thoughts and positive energy I've got to spare, but I think he's out of danger for now.

There's a crescent moon setting behind the South Eugene hills. It's a beautiful night to end a beautiful weekend. I hope you all are feeling as filled and at peace as I am.