alcatraz

my garden feels a little bit like alcatraz these days. the potential veggies have been secured behind a maximum security bunny fence. it grieved me to have to do this- as i said, i had faith in those darn bunnies. the digging out of the half eaten plants and the re-planting did not feel joyful. i cursed the bunnies as i worked because they were robbing me of my tidy garden. i cursed them more as i battled with the chicken wire in an effort to secure my little plot of land. my hands ended up getting scratched and cut. thankfully a kind neighbor saw my struggle and offered to hold the wire roll while i went to town with the staple gun. in the end, the security measures have paid off. i've had to let go of my need for a tidy and organized garden bed- those cucumber plants don't seem to want to cooperate and they are what i'm going for after all. all of this has made me feel a little less than thrilled with the gardening process... until...


just look at that baby! it is MY first cucumber! i grew it with my own little hands, some of God's sunshine and lots of beautiful rain. isn't she beautiful???
and a pea!
and more tomatoes than one family can eat!

when i was a little girl, my family didn't really have a vegetable garden. i'm not sure why, because my mom is a huge gardener, but she always stuck with flowers. however, i have memories of being the recipients of lots of tomatoes. i can remember specific families that would gift my mom with bags of their tomato bounty. and in our home, tomato bounty meant b.l.t.'s. i kid you not, we would eat bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwiches for dinner almost every night for the month of august. now one might guess that this was a culinary drag. you might be thinking that i am now sick of b.l.t.'s because i was forced to consume so many as a wee one, but no, your conclusion is inaccurate. i LOVED b.l.t. month! b.l.t. month meant a break from my mom's favorite dish, the beloved casserole. i hated casseroles and thus LOVED anything that offered me relief from the one pot wonder.

and so as i look at my daily increasing number of tomatoes, i see visions of beautiful glorious bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwiches in my very near future. my mouth waters a little bit just sitting here anticipating them.