Garden harvest

Peek-a-boo.

If you’ve ever grown tomatoes, you remember the day. You are out in the garden and you spy the first red, ripe tomato of the year. That day happened to me yesterday. We have five tomato plants, and the little cherry 100’s have ripened first, as always.

Our first 2012 tomato.

I pushed back some leaves and vines and found heaven. I’m not sure why I ever waste money on store bought tomatoes. I picked the two ripe little cherry tomatoes and popped them in my mouth… they were like eating a burst of summer. The experience brings me back to my childhood in Wisconsin on a golden, languid summer evening watching my beautiful, young, farm-raised Mom standing in her garden eating big, ripe tomatoes she had just picked off the vine and exclaiming how good they were as juice ran down her wrist.

Baby zucchini.

We planted zucchini squash AND patty pan (pitty pat) squash.

Isn’t it beautiful?

I make zucchini bread, and zucchini soup, or sometimes I shred both squash in my Cuisinart and then sauté it up with some olive oil and garlic salt (my niece’s favorite), but most often we grill them like this recipe from Epicurious.

Busy bee.

As I was busy harvesting the squash (which you have to do every day because they all grow so fast), I noticed a happy bee busily collecting pollen from one of the blossoms.

Bringing the pollen back to the hive, and heading back out again.

I don’t know yet how to capture it on my camera, but the garden is thick with our bees flying all around while I’m there harvesting but they never bother us (so far, anyway).