I have been counting my blessings - I do all the time - but since my beloved dad's passing earlier this month, I try and counter the grieving with the rejoicing, for life does, indeed, go on for the rest of us, and knowing Dad, he would hate to see me sunken with sadness.
I am very happy dad got to see the veggie garden fairly recently, a couple of months ago in fact, and he was awed by everything we had growing. My poor little dahlias were struggling at best, but I think I have some new influence up there yonder, because ever since dad left us, the dahlias have been blooming and blooming:
Our corn, too, has already delighted us with its sweetness. Last year we only got a few ears, but this time there's about a dozen almost ready to pick - this was the first one:
The Concord grapes are growing - I am meant to make jelly with these and we'll see whether that actually happens but it's been nice to watch them grow from little pinhead-sized dots to their current state.
We've had tons of onions already, not only the spring onions (their season is now done) but some of these yellow and white beauties. They've gone into omelets, chicken dishes, even gave one to mom for her stew. They're not the huge onions you see in the market, but that's perfect for us, because one of these is just about the size we usually need.
My Early Girl tomatoes do not disappoint, they are flavorful and have definitely made up for the disappointment of last year, when all I got all year were two marble sized tomatoes. They're doing better on this side of the yard!
The favorites are the strawberries, I can barely pick them and rinse them before they're in one of the boys' mouths. Usually my oldest gets them :D but they're so good and sweet, I can't blame him at all.
We are all enjoying the fruits and veggies from our backyard and next year, we're doing it from seed, baby! I mean to start some heirloom varieties now that I have my
fancy potting bench to help me along. I'm already making lists of what I'll get, it's so exciting! When all is said and done, the veggie garden is helping us eat better, because we don't want to waste any of this precious organic produce, and help our boys eat more veggies, not to mention saving a little money off the grocery bill.
I think Dad would be proud. Ok, who am I kidding, I never could do anything wrong in his eyes, so I know he's watching us pick those strawberries and corn and onions and smiling down at us. And that's a blessing to me.
