Ode to my Garden

Our yard has served us well. It's big and grassy, and it has a full grown tree in the midst of it, (which habitually loses gigantic limbs with each new wind storm). Some said we should remove it when we were building, but I love it, even with a few less branches. The problem, really, is our lack of neighbors. We have none. Not on any side at all. What that means is weeds and bugs, which have deadened big sections of our grass. Even still, as Frost said, "Something there is that doesn't love a wall."

But one thing has outperformed all of my expectations and become the new love of my life, next to my family of course. That thing is my garden. I planted last spring, and it grew stuff, to my surprise. I weeded it and watered it and fussed over it, and eventually, I loved it. I've noticed that about a lot of things in life. The more work you have to put into them, the more attached you get. Like my kids, for example. Who knew?

Here is the tomato box, which held way too many plants for the space. (Like I said, my expectations were initially low.) I have pulled boxes and boxes of tomatoes off these plants, and each one brings me unadulterated joy. This year, the foods of summer came straight from my own backyard. Bruschetta. Panzanella. Tomato Caprese. It seems like you can never have enough of Mozzarella cheese, vine ripened tomatoes and basil during the summer months.

This is a Caprese I made the other night. You layer the tomato, mozz, and basil, and then sprinkle liberally with Salt, Pepper, and EVOO. If you have a penchant for balsamic vinegar, which I really do, then sprinkle some on top. If you're more in the mood for bread, chop all of this up with some artisan bread, cubed, and let it marinate for about 30 minutes for a quick Panzanella. Sometimes it's the crunch I'm after, and I make bruschetta instead, so I can toast the bread and eat it that way. In any form, you really can't go wrong. Well, as long as there's Balsamic vinegar somewhere in the mix.

I was so taken with my ability to produce food, that I even canned some tomatoes, so as not to see them go to waste. That is not a process that I relish, but it's still fun to have the sauce. It reminds me of, yes, my garden, and how much I still love it.

Then there were the peppers that were supposed to be red, and the snap peas that blew out of the garden and replanted themselves inbetween the boxes in three seperate locations...Those plants actually produced more peas than the one in the box. Maddie, it turns out, will eat next to nothing, but loves peas from the garden. Occasionally I found the odd tomato lying on the ground with two little rows of teeth marks, but she didn't catch on to the taste of tomatoes. Oh how I love to garden.

And I already know just what I want to do next year...