Today's Harvest

"What's this?" asks Virginia.

"Today's harvest."

"Mushrooms?" she says.

Yep, the brown things that is, Shitake mushrooms, we think, grown on a log inoculated by friends. If you can't trust your friends, who can you trust? Check back tomorrow.

Sprung Spring

My green friends greeted this year's Spring with mixed emotions. They liked the head start, but they weren't sure they could trust me to protect them if the mercury sank precipitously. Of course, I didn't put them at severe risk. Even now, only hardy guys and gals grace my garden. Strawberries, of course:

Beets:

Onions, a gift from Kirsten:

Brassicas (cabbages, broccolis, cauliflowers, and Brussels sprouts):

"Nice spider web," says Virginia.

"I had to look at this picture to learn that my pomegranates are budding. I thought they might be taking too long." (You may have to double-click on the photo to see the buds.)

And look, the grapes are showing signs of life:

Is it Spring, or is it Summer? Believe it or not, this harlequin beetle joined a hundred others in the first squish session of the year. Its last meal was Chinese cabbage.

I've imprisoned some of my peas. If you look closely at the back two-thirds of this bed, you may be able to see rows of the legumes.

"LET ME OUT!"

Carrot Sticks

The last blog posting nearly killed me, but here I am, sputtering, sweating and, thank goodness, un-Skyped. Karen and I finally got on the river today, kayaking to Glasgow. It's been a couple years since we took that route, so it seems more isolated and unfamiliar than the Gilmore's Mill and Alpine Farms sections upstream from our place. The Glasgow take-out was packed with maybe a hundred cars, mostly folks traveling to Balcony Falls, we presume.

We're swamped with peas, a couple hours picking and a couple hours shelling every other day. In between, we have sugar snap peas, which are much quicker because you simply string them and eat the entire package. Our freezer still has peas and corn from last year, so I have to shift things around and put the new guys on the bottom. Same story for the 30 quarts of strawberries frozen this year. Today, 4 bags of broccoli joined the frozen family. Soon we'll pull up some potato plants to see what's happened since March 17.

"Tell them about the carrots," says Virginia.

She knows one of my favorite vegetables is the carrot. When a friend suggested I take vitamins instead of eating all those carrots, and all that sugar in the carrots, I told her she's crazy. She is.

First 2011 Strawberries

While reading court decisions this afternoon, the western sky grew gray, warning that too long a wait might deprive us of dessert.  That did not happen.

"Dessert?" says Virginia. "They look more like a main course to me."

And she's not a fruitarian.

Butterfly Effect

Look who greeted me in the greenhouse this morning.

Here's another view.

"Is that a zebra swallowtail?" says Virginia.

I'll tell you what it is.  It's a wonderful way to start a day.

"Makes you want to run inside and work on a book deadline?" says Virginia.

Exactly.  We may be picking strawberries in a week or two.

And peas, too (Wandos).

How about some broccoli?

Cramped salad, anyone?

And later, much later, maybe some grape juice or raisins?