Fee, Fie, Foe, Friday: First Tomato!

Voila! The First Vine Ripened Tomato of the season! Need I say more?

First Ripe Tomato of the Season!

Fee, Fie, Foe, Friday: What Shall I Cook Today?

Cooking indecisiveness is a disease. Especially when you are a gardener, and you have produce coming from your own vegetable garden every day. Actually, any kind of indecisiveness is a real handicap. I have a dear friend who cannot make even the smallest choice without spending at least 15 minutes first wavering towards one thing and then another. Its tough when you're standing in front of a candy machine at the train station, you money is in it and your train is pulling in. Then she always ends up with a Hershey bar. Really. But seriously, at this time of year, it's really hard to choose one thing over another, haricot beans over Swiss chard? Beets or baby carrots? Right around the 4th of July, the best stuff starts coming in from gardens and farms. So much to pick from, I still can't decide.

Not complaining, though. Most of the year, I'd love to have such a problem. Wallow in the good stuff while you can! I'll decide after I munch a radish or two. Enjoy the long holiday weekend.

Just rinse and serve.

Fee, Fie, Foe, Friday: First Day & I'm Late

Here it is, the very first day of summer, and I'm STILL running late with all the garden chores. Putting in all the raised beds, and moving all the extra soil and compost off the driveway and into a temporary straw bale raised bed have eaten up so much of my time. Vegetable planting was way late this year because of all that. I usually have everything mulched, the cold frame cleaned out,  and all the patio pots planted. Not this year. Usually by now, it's almost "Hammock Time." Instead, I feel like the Mad Hatter.

Summertime! The livin' is easy if you're a tomato plant.

At the rate I'm going, I'll still be doing spring chores by the 4th of July. Not that it matters, but the entire family comes over  for a barbecue at some point over that weekend and I hate having outdoor works-in-progress. Guess I'll have to get over it. And let some of it go. Summer is the time to relax, isn't it? If you are a gardener, the livin' is NOT easy; fun, but not easy.

Even though I may be behindhand, and whipping myself into a froth, Mother Nature is right on schedule. The tomato plants ate tomatoing, and the beans plants are beaning. Swiss chard is ready to pick, and we've already eaten all the radishes and arugula. Second plantings are already IN. Soon we'll be up to our eyeballs in tomatoes and basil. It's all good, isn't it?  Soon I'll be canning and freezing, and too soon, it'll be fall. Here I am already ahead of myself. Worrying.

A tomato plant, tomatoing.

I know, I know, I should let some of it go. And I will. What gets done, gets done, because pfffft! It's a metaphor for life. If you worry too much about the past and the future, you'll miss now. Because I don't want to be late for a date, a very important date...with the hammock this afternoon. Life goes too fast to get caught up in the To Do list. Enjoy. It's Summer.

Fee, Fie, Foe, Friday: Even a Bad Day in the Garden is a Good Day

Hot, humid, and sporadic rain. That was my day in the garden today. I only lasted a couple of hours before the thunder and lightening sent me scurrying to the house, but it was wonderful. I was hoeing weeds, hauling the last new raised bed into position, mulching, and thinning beets and arugula. I was filthy, soaked in sweat and it was great. Tomorrow, I'll fill that last bed (last one for this season, two more next year), and then I'll worrying about mulch, compost, and more tomato stakes. Love it all.

I don't know what you like to do, but I've found as I get older that I like to be productive, even in my "off" time. I like having something to show for my efforts. I knit, practice my French, or heaven forbid, write blog posts. Laying on the sofa, a favorite pastime during the dark days of winter, holds little attraction right now, when I know there are dandelions trying to sneak into the vegetable beds. Unfortunately, there still isn't much coming from the garden to really eat except some errant asparagus, so I'm not cooking or canning as much as I will in a few short weeks.

So while today wasn't anywhere near as productive as I'd of liked thanks to Mother Nature being uncooperative, it was still a good day. Tomorrow no matter what the weather, will be just as good.

Me, in the garden, on a sunny day.

Fee, Fie, Foe, Friday: Germination

According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the word "germ" didn't begin to take on the negative connection with disease until early in the 18th C. The older sense of the word is much nicer : from the Latin germen which means to sprout, to bud. Germination.

I like the idea of budding and sprouting, especially now, in the Spring. While things are sprouting and budding in the garden, I've got plans and ideas sprouting in my brain. It's all good. Some part of my mind goes into hibernation over the Winter, and the rest of me goes on autopilot. Apparently so do most of the people I know.  Once the days get longer, and the lawns green up, Everyone, and everything is fully alive. Wild violets are blooming in the hollows where the fairies dance at dusk.  This is my favorite time of year because it is so full possibilities. Time for growth.

Germination. A new start, and we get the chance every moment.

Germination: Vegetables for Summer

The Invisible Beets, Cabbage, Chard, Beans and other Vegetables

Well, I haven't been cooking much (actually not at all) because I've spent the last week wheelbarrowing soil from my driveway across the yard and into my new raised beds. I have high hopes for them; my soil is rocky clay, full of roots and has been a real trial for the last 8 years. I'd like a couple more raised beds, but the budget (and my back) won't allow it right now, and I know I won't want to be hauling dirt when the summer heat sets in. will have to wait until fall or next spring. Sigh.

I finally filled the last one today, just took 11 wheelbarrows full of soil, and now it's waiting for the weather to improve so I can set out some tomatoes and peppers. I did get the other two planted, though, and hopefully the forecasted rain will get those seeds germinating. My favorite cooking is with stuff we grow ourselves. So, in the picture below, there are beets, chard, beans, cabbage, radishes and arugula. In seed form...in the beds,  gotcha!

The bushel baskets are waiting...