FIRST SPRING HARVEST

It's hard to believe, but our spring harvest has begun! It's also hard to believe April is on the downhill slide - it will be summer and 110 degrees before you know it.

We planted our lettuce seeds fairly late, so we're fighting the warm weather and trying to pick/sell as much as we can. Each day that it doesn't bolt, we're lucky. We're also blessed with early squash - both zucchini and yellow (crook neck and straight) ready to pick every day. I made a big batch of squash casserole yesterday, froze another batch of squash for future casseroles, then sold the rest - about 5 pounds - today. I've got another 8 pounds or so to sell tomorrow! It's such a great feeling to provide just-picked fresh vegetables to people. Store-bought just never tastes the same once you've had fresh.

Here are some sights from the garden:

Pickling cukes are blooming like crazy! We've got 4 or 5 ready to pick - but not enough to pickle - yet. Won't be long!

These are an heirloom variety of tomato - Cherokee Purple. I bet they'll taste as good as they look. They're a deep purplish red - almost (gasp!) Aggie maroon!!

A annonymous honeybee was kind enough to pollinate our squash. One of my summer to-do list items: start beekeeping! Until then, we'll rely on visting bees.

Our first ripe tomato!!! This little red jewel is hiding behind it's cluster. I spotted it first, so I claimed it. Chances are slim it will still be there tomorrow. I'll bet Big John eats it and blames it on the chickens.

This is a wonderful time of year to be in the garden. Weeds haven't taken over, things are green and blooming and ripening. Picking those first few veggies makes all those long hard days and back aches totally worth it. Weeding, watering, and harvesting haven't become a chore. I'll just relish in these cool spring days, and try to remember them in July and August!

Pray for rain. It's starting to get tough.