Accidental Okra. — Grandbari

So, we've had a couple of weddings in our backyard. Big Girl married Mountain Man 3 years ago and this summer Middle Girl married Fisherman. (Perhaps you've read "About Last Weekend.")

One of the lovely little serendipitous (I just love that word...happy little accidental surprise...what could be better!?) gifts of toiling away on food and decor for each wedding has sprouted up months after the "I do's." Three years ago it was the result of leaving lovely white pumpkins to decay after the fall nuptials. (I was tired and it was cold outside...that's the only excuse I have.)

There's the pumpkin vine in the bottom left corner that appeared the following spring and a cute lil bunny looking for a snack. We harvested a few white pumpkins just in time for fall. That's serendipity.

This year I wasn't looking for gifts after Middle Girl's wedding. But I noticed a determined little sprout growing between paving stones just off the table where we laid out the cheese board.

My first thought was "wow, those pumpkin seeds just keep on producing"...but instead of a vine I had a straight and getting-taller-by-the-day plant.

It finally dawned on me that this persistent little sprout was the result of pickled okra on the cheese board. Now it's silly, I'm sure, but I'm really amazed at the strength of the little seeds inside the okra.

It wasn't fresh okra, mind you...this okra had been placed in a vinegar solution and heated and canned and placed on a store shelf until I bought it. Then it made its way to our appetizer spread at the wedding where someone perhaps took a bite and tossed it.

What a persevering seed...I'm super impressed. That's fortitude.