Summer Musings of Gardening and Fresh Blood.
My summer garden is looking rather odd this year.
To you, my non-vampire friends it might seem odd that I’d have a garden. And NO it isn’t full of nightshade, foxglove and belladonna.
There are pumpkins of all sorts. Unfortunately the seeds for some odd reason have taken weeks to come up – that with a late start will give me pumpkins in December. The tomatoes are small, but I DID grow them from seed. Heirlooms and new varieties. There are also beans of all sorts, which are doing quite well, thank you very much.
My pride and joy are the sunflowers. They had a difficult start. The birds like the seeds. The dog and cats like the cool dirt around the plants.
I garden at dusk or before the sun comes up. My sensitivity to the sunlight keeps me from going out in the middle of the day.
Sometimes when I get the tools from the “basement” under the house I linger in the cool dark, about 20 degrees less than the air outside. Unlike our tiny cold-blooded lizard friends who sit on the deck and bask in the sun, I can’t take the heat.
It is where we keep garden tools, camping gear, wine, and canning supplies. It is a playground for the cats when they get the chance to slip through the door.
Sometimes I imagine bringing someone down to the basement on the pretense of getting a bottle of wine, then sinking my teeth into his neck and then taking a nap in one of the old lawn chairs stored there. Just sitting in the dry cool dark as I feel the glow of fresh blood warm my heart and every inch of my body.
Forgive me, I must stop and catch my breath just thinking of it. In a way, finding a good source for blood is the same as finding that perfect summer nectarine or peach, ripe and full to the point where it almost runs down your chin when you bite into it. A small taste, then warm human hands and skin against my own cool body turns into a craving and a passion that burns like a flash fire, then passes like a gentle warm summer breeze, only to bring up a smile and knowledge that it won’t be the last time.
Yes, there are parts of my life I don’t tell my children about. My hunts with them will not be the same as my hunts alone or those with my husband, but that is another blog posting.
So what do vampires can?
With both water bath cooker and a pressure cooker we can just about everything. Well, not jelly or anything with high sugar content.
We make beer and blood chili for cold winter nights. We make salsa. Vampires love salsa. We make rich marinara to pour over Swiss chard and steamed vegetables.
For modern vampires do not live on blood alone. I mean it. Wouldn’t you get bored with a diet with only one food item? Well maybe not…
~ Juliette
Vampire Maman 