Garden Magic

It's no wonder that ancient peoples celebrated this season with ritual, song, and dance. There's something very magical about everything sprouting up from the earth, fresh and green (unless it's one of the ten million weeds in my garden, the magic wears off slightly when I contemplate them.)

This week we've eaten the first leaves of lettuce from our garden in sandwiches and salads, and nothing is better than that. And all of our newly-planted seeds are enjoying the combination of rain and sunshine that our days have been alternating between, so everything is growing wildly in our garden beds. Each day brings a new seed sprouting, and soon it will be time to have what the kids call our "garden feast"!
In one fell swoop, I finished weeding our new fenced garden and planted it all. Corn, cucumbers, beets, spinach, pole beans, peppers, tomatoes, basil, cilantro, melons and pumpkins - now that's an exciting menu! It's nice to have the space to do the bigger things like pumpkins that are harder in the raised beds. Can't wait to see the little sprouts... On the downside, hubby accidentally threw away my baggies of "old plant pods" (i.e. the seeds I saved from last year's beans, peas, and edameme) so I can't see how my first seed-saving project went. I'll have to try again this year and do a better job of labeling my baggy.

A cop might do a double-take at our pantry as well, with several baggies full of fresh herb on the shelves. But that would be Asa's tea project. She's harvesting our spearmint, peppermint, and the lemon-balm that grows wild around here and making her own tea. It makes a very tasty cup, especially in the evening hours.