I’m so happy to have a summer garden again, we couldn’t have it last year because of our house construction and I really, really missed it. Gardening is one of those things for me that inspires, excites, and calms me. A real life giver. I think I got a little too ambitious this year, the garden is a little TOO big, which I didn’t think was possible! I’m also learning more and more about how important healthy soil is and that planning is also crucial if you want a steady flow of vegetables. The latter I currently don’t have the brain capacity for, so our garden is what it is. And, I love it.

Above is one of my favorite raised beds. We recently turned it over from fava beans and carrots, to beans, chard, beets, corn, and dakion radishes. I love watching the bean plants slowly climb up our teepees that we build for them. It’s so fascinating! Caleb has been especially noticing the growth each day, it’s fun to get excited about it with him.

Carrots are one of the things my kids love to harvest most from our garden. It’s a surprise every time when they tug at the greens and uproot the carrots. We plant orange, white, yellow and red carrots so it’s especially a delight for them to see what will come out. Their favorite are the red ones! One of the carrots escaped the kids harvesting hands and went to seed, I think the little white blossoms are so pretty.

Tomatoes are here! Tomatoes are here! We picked a small handful of three varieties the other night, red cherry, brandywine, and San Marzano. We really celebrate the first of every harvest around here. We cut them into pieces and slowly savored them together.

This is my first year of, so far, successfully growing winter squash. I’m so excited! My plants in the past haven’t survived due to our strange squirrels who love to eat our tomatoes (understandable), kale, squash blossoms… and then eventually the whole squash plant. All my squash are now protected by netting, which is a little annoying but necessary. All our squash are grown from Seed Savers heirloom seeds, my favorite is called “Thelma Sanders.”

And lastly, how fun is this? The other week we discovered a bird’s nest right outside the kids’ bedroom window. We’re looking forward to the baby birdies hatching soon!