E I E I O

what a lovely evening. sitting at the table, reading and munching on roasted vegetables freshly picked from my garden. a little olive oil, a little lemon-tinged herb blend. yummy.

i am really getting into this gardening thing. some evenings i go out and spend 15 minutes pulling weeds, admiring the greens, checking the status of the fruit, decompressing. aside from the therapeutic aspect of having a garden, you can't beat the taste of fresh picked veggies.

oh. the. sweet. peas!

i wish we'd done this years ago, but then again we needed the grunt labor expertise of dad and tina to get us started. thanks, guys!

i look forward to having a garden every year now, and would like to try to vary the crops a bit. the corn failed last year, and so far the peppers are not doing much, but the pickles are starting to hit, and the zucchini has been prolific. (plus we have a rogue carrot from last year amongst the squash plants.) it'll be fun to see what we can grow that the kids will actually eat.

the zucchini has been prolific, but until recently, i hadn't gotten any. the first one went to adrian, the next 2 to tina, another to our friend kim (for picking up the girls from day care and saving us a whopping late fee and possible expulsion). i anticipate a bumper crop and so am looking for recipes and (sneaky) ways to use them. pam mentioned that she has nana's recipes for zucchini bread and bread & butter pickles, so i am looking forward to continuing a delicious tradition, as soon as she finds the recipes. i also found a recipe for zucchini-lemon cake which i intend to take to the day care picnic. all the parents will love that i snuck veggies into their kids' bellies in the guise of a frosted treat.