I Heart My Vegetables

At this time of year I barely have time to weed our garden, much less write about it.

But I just couldn't help putting a few photos up here because every year when the little vegetables poke their tips through the soil and start making food I feel so proud of them. I get all welled up with gratitude that they've done their thing despite my neglect, and that they're living their little lives just to feed us.

I also feel sad about the plants that don't make it. This year that includes onions and a few black beans. It's so sad that the little seeds die in the ground before fulfilling their reproductive destiny. AND it's sad that we won't have onions!

You're sensing that maybe my attachment to my garden is a bit....emotional? Extreme?

Maybe it's having children that does it to a person, because I'm telling you, it is SO fulfilling to have a living thing do what you ask it to do!

These plants don't fight with each other when I'm on the phone, they don't throw tantrums at Target, and they certainly don't keep me up at night worrying about the need to make their lives happy and unencumbered.

It's enough to make an emotional attachment like velcro.

Here they are, photographed without being told to stand up straight and stop pinching their brothers:

The garden

Beautiful lettuce

Sweetest Pea