Picture of the day - September 1, 2005

Poke Greens

Today was a special day...I found some poke greens growing in the yard. After a couple of days of bad weather, we finally received some sunshine this afternoon. Noticing that the lawn badly needed trimming, I grabbed the weed eater and got to work. When I made my way to the swing in the corner of the yard, I saw some tall weeds - what we in southwestern Virginia call poke greens. I started to cut down the poke plants when I happened to remember how my dad had always loved them, so I went inside and got my camera and took a few pictures... including today's "Picture Of The Day". Dad grew up in a time and place where there was little extra money for "store-bought" food and supplies - the bulk of the food eaten by rural families was either grown in the garden or gathered from the wild. And so it was with poke greens. I remember how dad would routinely scour the perimeter of our garden and other places where poke was known to grow looking for a "mess of poke" to gather. When he found some he would break it off, take it to the house and ask mom to cook it. It's funny how the simplest things in life can mean so much. Dad's love of poke greens grew out of the necessity to put food on the table even when the family couldn't afford to buy it at the market, and that taste for poke stayed with him all the days of his life. Dad loved to eat poke greens and I simply couldn't stand them...but now I hate to cut them down even when they're growing in my yard.   Picture Of The Day Homepage | Submit a photo Interesting Articles