LIFE is wonderful and wonderful is LIFE!

Most of my posts have been about 'locavorian' issues, but today I want to be abit more personal and to sing the praises of gardening! So in my earlier posts you saw me preparing my garden for this year -- well now we are late in July and my garden is providing me all of its glorious bounty! If you want to read about the specifics, go to my garden blog: http://www.linnasgarden.blogspot.com/

So this morning I went out to the garden to do some picking and pruning and I was just overwhelmed with energy as my garden literally hummed around me! LIFE IS WONDERFUL AND WONDERFUL IS LIFE! Gosh, the sun was streaming in - the bees were whizzing about- my plants are bursting with fruit - and I paused to just soak it in..... What a wonderful balance I have here. I fed my soil and my plants are reacting in kind. The rains of the season have treated us well and daily I have new surprises to harvest. I have no idea what to do with it all! Each day I collect fruit, and think of new ways to eat or preserve my pieces of sunshine. They are all my babies and I realized that I will miss my garden family come winter. Each day my garden gives me something new: a new rush, a new fruit, a new bug, a new challenge, a new flavor, a new sensation ... I LOVE THEM ALL! It is also so fun to watch the different plants and how they interact together. They all have characters like:

• my 'bully' birdhouse gourds, they just keep creeping on top of all of the other plants! At first I was hesitant to cut back anything, but now I am cutting back at will!
• my 'simple' minded cucumbers, they are fine climbing my trellis support, but unless I tie them up, they forget and fall to the side
• my 'calm' pole beans, they just keep climbing and climbing, even where there isn't anymore supports! They have been losing out to the birdhouse gourds.....but I am helping them take back some territory!
• my 'crazy' tomatoes that need a good haircut
• my 'bold' butternut squash that spreads like a wildfire and gets into everything!
• my 'flamboyant' squash that has gorgeous leaves and shelters her tender fruits
• my 'steadfast' Swiss chard that consistently produces week by week!
• my 'sneaky' sweet potato that is stealthy in its vines

Can't you see, it is like I have a soap opera happening in my back-yard! So here is to being caught in the food web and loving it. I am now planning my fall garden to make sure I can keep this feeling going as long as I can -- it is keeping me mentally, physically and spiritually fit!