An attractive fall wreath starts with a disliked vegetable
Since I'm from the South, you might think I鈥檇 like the taste of okra. But you鈥檇 be wrong. Southerners aren't necessarily born with a gene to let okra slide down their throats with ease, and like it. I suppose it鈥檚 an acquired taste, but my view is, why bother?
On several occasions, feeling as though I wasn鈥檛 worthy of my Southern roots, I would try okra again -- only to be reminded why I don鈥檛 like okra. Gag me with a spoon. Shiver. Pass me an oyster any day, but don鈥檛 pass the okra.
I鈥檝e tried okra in stews, pickled, and fried. Other than okra, I can鈥檛 think of a single food I don鈥檛 like fried -- pickles, Snickers, Oreos, Coke, Twinkies, butter -- you know, the usual stuff -- and I might even like fried ants, but I鈥檒l wait on that until I absolutely have to.
If the day comes when my diet must rely on ants, say, after some nuclear wintering perhaps, I鈥檒l eat ants first and trade my okra pods for a memory of the , where I could eat my way from one end of the fairgrounds to the other.
In addition to the fair food, I鈥檝e eaten other stuff I鈥檓 not particularly proud of, mostly animal body parts Northerners ship down South, but no sirree bob, I will not eat okra. I鈥檇 rather eat roadkill.
Non-culinary uses for okra
With that attitude, this may come as a surprise to you -- but I grow okra.
Now there's a difference between me and someone who doesn't eat but does grow tomatoes, for instance. A tomato isn鈥檛 much good for anything other than eating, so there's no reason to grow tomatoes if you aren't going to eat them.
Okra, on the other hand, has a beautiful flower [see second photo above; click on arrow at right base of first photo] and pods worthy of fulfilling a crafty fix.
The pods are interesting looking. Very architectural. They can be used in their natural form or painted fall or Christmas colors and used as decorations. Fill a bowl, make "fingernails" with them to complete your Halloween costume, or add to a Christmas garland.
An okra-pod fall wreath
My friend Frances, author of the, wrote on making an okra pod wreath. And in case you're wondering, she, too, won鈥檛 let okra pass her lips. Sorry, Frances, if I outed you.
Okra pods mature just in time for adorning the door with a fall wreath. I plan to follow Frances鈥� advice and make one of my own. Okra makes the perfect statement to welcome guests for the fall season. It may also warn visitors that okra is welcome, but only as a trophy on the front door.
Come visit the fair: For those of you fortunate enough to be in striking distance of , Oct. 13-23, I hope to see you there. On Sunday, Oct. 16, at 1 p.m., I鈥檒l be giving a workshop on how to make terrariums.
If you miss that, but are at the fair, you鈥檒l know me as the one wearing an okra garland in my hair, while eating the notable all-in-one breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert food -- .
-----
Helen Yoest lives in North Carolina and writes about . She's a garden writer, speaker, and garden coach. She's also a field editor for Better Homes and Gardens and Country Gardens magazines and serves on the board of advisors for the JC Raulston Arboretum. You can follow Helen on and . To read more by Helen here at Diggin' It, click here.
