This week

Some works in progress here and there. One side of the kitchen: getting closer!
The other side: not even close.

A new veggie garden fence:
Not much visible happening yet...but the peas are up, the asparagus, potatoes, onions, carrots, lettuce, kale, and herbs are in. The weeds aren't even out of control yet!

A picnic lunch:
Under a perfect blue sky.

Hope your week is lovely!

Green gifts

Just a few glimpses of things making me smile inside and outside my door today. I love how lively all the fresh spring growth looks on gray, rainy days. Is it crazy that I wake up each day excited to see what new things might be happening in the garden? Sometimes I'm rewarded with little surprises as last fall's hastily set in perennials and bulbs come to life. My garden is small and simple, but Spring still makes me feel like a child on Christmas morning- anxiously waiting to see what gifts the earth has to offer.

I hope to steal a few more moments to come back here soon.

From the earth

Considering my CSA hands me this abundance and more every week, I have been asking myself whether my garden is worth all the effort. There's no way I can top the bounty of this local farmer.

But then I think back to my own childhood. We did not usually have a tilled garden space, but the yard had many fruit trees, bushes and perennials. I remember so vividly foraging in the yard for blueberries, plums, rhubarb, pears and more. With delight my siblings and I would find these edible gems and gobble them up.

Though eventually I would love to garden so productively that I could feed my family all summer long and into the year with my own labor, I'm not there yet. For now I think of it as a children's garden, a nibbler's place. A place to pluck a simple bouquet. A space to find treasures among the weeds- a strawberry here, a sugar snap there. I love to watch the joy and satisfaction of my boy as he pulls carrots from the patch. I hope to plant seeds of love for the earth that my children can carry with them always.

A week (or two) in pictures

Savoring a few strawberries from the garden and loading up on buckets full at our favorite u-pick farm. Rowan's last day of gymnastics:
Almost daily wagon rides to and from the market:
Puddle stomping and rain dancing:
Making sour cherry syrup. Last year's frozen bounty was cleared out to make way for all the new delights about to fill my freezer. And with the addition of seltzer, this syrup makes a fabulous cherry soda. Or a slushy- we love our Hawaiian Ice maker.
Out riding with friends:Last day of school celebration for Ava- complete with cake and a slumber party. Look who's holding court with the big girls...
Hurray for summer!

Gardener's apron

On the rare (and short!) break in the clouds yesterday I gave my new apron a whirl. Finally made one of these for myself- just a little half apron with pockets in the front for seeds, tools and other gardening essentials. The fabric is a sturdy printed canvas that hopefully will withstand all the wear and tear and grime.
Rowan was my photographer and I have to say that I'm very pleased he got the apron and not my hair. I very sorely need some help in that department. Specifically, I think it's time for a haircut. By a professional. It's been nearly ten years since I got my hair cut by someone other than myself or a family member.

In other apron news, if you're in the market for a fabulous mama/child apron set, you should head on over here and take part in the Garden Mama contest giveaway. Leave a comment and she'll put your name in the running! Sweet!

Things to love right now

A back porch for whiling away these summer afternoons. I tidied it up and now there's actually a place to sit with a snack or drink.
Staying up way past bedtime to watch fireflies twinkling like Christmas lights in the backyard (hard to see the little guys in this photo, but they're there):
A very slow shutter speed of a firefly in a jar. Rowan so very proudly caught - and then released- this one:

Eating mounds of greens from the garden. Kale and cilantro have starring roles these days. Braised greens and lentil curry anyone?

Rain!

Yesterday, it finally rained, poured, thundered and the temperature even dropped a few degrees. Yippee! All of us inside were very happy about that and the plants outside perked up.
Snappy peas:
Happy lettuce (ignore the weeds):
More walking onions and the flimsy, not really deer proof fence in the background. The swirly things that form on the top of the plant are little baby onion plants. The mama plant tips over to the ground and deposits the baby plant in the soil. I think they look crazy (but I must like them because I keep taking their picture):
The clothes left outside on the line were not entirely pleased: I got half of them in before the rain hit. Oh well, the sun has come out again. Since I'm new to this whole strategic opening and closing of windows, what do I do now? I opened them up thinking it was cooler and now it's become steamy inside. Arg! And Rowan, as usual, has his two cents about the matter of the sun coming out. He said, "someone must be singing You are My Sunshine. That's why it stopped raining so quick."

And the whole duck mystery thing? Case solved at bath time. Lilla knows about ducks not because of the real thing but because she has a few rubber ducks swimming in her tub. How could I forget about these "duckas?"

The May flowers...

...are blooming. And they all seem to be purple. Well, all the ones in my garden anyway. These puff ball-like Alliums ('purple sensation' I think) are one of my favorites: The lilacs smell divine. We've got a bit more time to enjoy them:
Two years ago I divided and moved the irises from their crowded spots by the side of the house. Last year, they hardly bloomed. This year they've found their roots and gotten comfortable:
Must plant more of these Allium bulbs in the Fall...I love them so!

A gardening we go

Sugar snap peas, lettuce, cilantro, carrots and beets are making their way through the soil. Last year's parsley and kale have volunteered themselves... The "walking" onions are multiplying and spreading and I am beginning to wonder whether planting them was a good idea. Strawberry plants bloom, but the deer like to nibble away at the leaves. If the deer cut back on their feasting, perhaps we will have a few berries ready in about six weeks.

As I move things around in the perennial beds, Rowan follows with a hose to ease the shock of the new transplants. My little babe perches on my back examining our work in progress. This time of year the garden feels so full of potential, it's hard to hold back from buying yet more seeds and plants. I day dream about creating a magical space in the backyard...outdoor rooms made up of shrubs and plants with wafts of sweet smelling blossoms and herbs filling the air. And an abundance of good things to eat. Some day. Right now we are just playing. Getting our fingernails dirty and our hopes high.

Springy

Spring is just forging ahead with flowers blooming and leaves unfurling all around. And I am drinking in all the beauty as it greets me each day. The new shapes, textures and colors found outside my door delight my eyes.
And the weather? Well, it's predictably spring-like, which means one day we slip out of the house in short sleeves, skirts/shorts and sandals and the next, boots and a rain jacket are required. And then there's those nippy mornings where we need a little extra layer of clothing. I happily found this butter yellow, three quarter sleeve coat recently, thinking it would be perfect for a cooler Spring day.
And then there's the slightly impractical hat I made last fall for Lilla. It's too warm for a hot day, not warm enough for a cold day, but just right for an in between cool Spring day. And I just don't know how long I can get away with putting a bonnet on my girl. But I do see myself making some summer-weight ones in the near future.

Inch by inch

After taking a week off from the computer, I'm still not into the swing of being back. And with the weather being so perfect here, I hardly want to be indoors. After all, there are picnics to take, trails to explore and a garden to tend.

Yesterday was the first day of this year that I actually got my hands in the dirt. I've been on the fence as to whether I would even plant anything this year. Life is pretty full here already. And summertime is so tricky because I end up taking off on vacation just as the cucumbers need trellising, the squash needs de-bugging or tomatoes need picking.

With a garden, it seems that something always needs doing at any given moment. Also, I never cleaned up my garden last fall, so the beds all need attention before I can get to work planting. Yesterday while the babies napped, Ari and I spent part of the afternoon weeding and moving large rocks around. Hopefully I'll get some peas, lettuce and cilantro planted later today.

Pictures from the Plantations...an inspiring little paradise: