Growing Anticipation


I just bought a CSA share for summer 2011.  My p-patch is poised to yield peas sometime soon (thanks to my dad's hard work to whip it into shape).  My handy husband is building four new raised beds for our home garden.  I have eight packets of heirloom organic seeds ready to plant, and I picked up my tomato starts last Saturday.  I'm ready.  Can you tell?

Organic homegrown and local produce makes me feel good.  It inspires me to cook more and to cook more healthfully.  And, if you use seeds for the plants you grow (and make a point to use up all the fruits and veggies that come in your CSA) it can be cost effective, too.  Not to mention that it tastes better than other food! 

I have great plans for growing stuff.  Up until now it's been a bit chilly around here, but hey, I have a toasty grower that I can employ to get things started.  Plus, the time is near when all those little seeds are going to take off without extra help.  My gardens will have zucchini, yellow summer squash, red potatoes (those are growing already in burlap sacks on the patio), snap peas, two kinds of kale, several lettuces, herbs or all kinds, green beans and yellow beans, and maybe I'll put in some favas later in the season to overwinter.  I'd like to grow some winter squash (but it may already be too late for that). I've got four tomatoes already (although they are sitting in the kitchen) and will probably find a few more before June is through. 

I'm growing two kinds of raspberries and a fig tree (in a pot) here at the house.  I hope to add a couple dwarf plums and a pear to the yard this year.  And maybe I can find a spot to tuck in a few blueberry plants.  Not sure where to put strawberries, but I'd really like some of those, too.  I've decided this is the great part about putting in a new home garden and landscaping.  You can add edibles everywhere.

This time of year is so full of expectations, ideas, and anticipation of all the food (and fun) that is to come.  Watching the plants grow and harvesting the food, or picking up my CSA box each week and discovering what it holds inside, cooking, sharing, serving it to my family and friends, canning and freezing -- these are all things I look forward to so much.  And this year I get to add one more activity to that list: introducing Wyatt to fresh produce as he begins his foray into real food in a month or so.  

Now, if the sun would just warm that dirt a little more . . .

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