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Cheryl and her husband, Leonard, were planning their garden last spring when Oleta asked them about okra.
"We told her we'd plant it if she'd buy the seed," Cheryl said.
"I love okra, and my family loves it," Oleta said. "I like to put it in the freezer. When I saw they were doing a garden, I had to ask if they were planting okra!"
From 3 ounces of seed purchased at Bryson's Farm Supply, Cheryl and Oleta grew a 70-foot-long double row of very tall okra. Cheryl said she's already saving the seed for next year's crop.
So far she's fried, frozen, canned and pickled the tender, green pods, she said, and plans to give a lot of her bounty away as Christmas gifts to friends and family.
A relative novice at the gardening game (her first garden was just three years ago), Cheryl attributes much of this summer's agricultural success to Leonard's expertise. Her husband, she said, learned about vegetable gardens from his grandmother Ruby Holden, and their garden includes greasy-back beans grown from seeds Grandmother Ruby saved for years. Cheryl's saving bean seeds, too, she said.
As for Oleta, she's pretty happy with the fruits of her 3 ounces of seed. Due to frequent moves connected with her husband's career and recent family illnesses, she's never really had a chance to garden, she said.
"I was glad to hook up with Leonard and Cheryl," she said. "I was tickled to death. I'm enjoying the young people. When I go working in the garden with Cheryl, I think I'm her age - I just hope she doesn't think she's as old as I am!"
Oleta has made okra pickles from her mother's special recipe.
"I sent one bunch to Nashville (Tenn.) to my son with a note that said, 'Don't open for eight weeks.' My mother always said to let them sit for that long," Oleta said.
Since we're looking into pickle production here at the Cafe, I asked Oleta if she'd share her pickling procedure, and she did.
To make Janet Howell's okra pickles, you need 5 pounds of okra (young and tender, no longer than will fit in a pint canning jar), pods of garlic and red pepper, 8 cups vinegar, 1 cup water, 3/4 cups pickling salt and alum, Oleta said.
Place one clove garlic and one pod of red pepper in the bottom of each sterilized jar. Wash okra and pack pods tightly in each jar, without puncturing the pods. Sprinkle 1/4 teaspoon alum over the okra in each jar. Then mix the vinegar and water and bring to boil. Fill each jar with boiling vinegar and water and seal. Process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes. Don't open for eight weeks.
We plan to make a batch as soon as the paper's finished this week - at least we will if we can find anyone tall enough to pick Cheryl and Oleta's okra.
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