Despite hail and high water

In the evening after my kids are to bed, it's then that I escape down this path lit with golden light.



I come to visit my beautiful green things.

July is the magic month, the time when my little green things become lush and lovely.

The potatoes are starting to flower. That means if I gently reach beneath them, I would find perfect small new potatoes. It's addictive, pulling those little jewels out of the ground with my bare hands. You have no idea.

And when I do, I'll have garden dirt under my nails for at least a week.



I instantly like people with garden dirt under their nails.

Gardening teaches patience.



Our new bed of asparagus is doing exactly what it should. The growth on top is feeding the baby crowns below, giving them the strength to make it through our harsh winter. In a few years they'll be strong enough to survive the harvest of some of the first shoots that grow in early spring.

Corn should be knee-high by the fourth of July? Well, we're doing better than the ankle-high we had last year at this time. Deceiving angle, isn't it?



When sweet corn is harvested, it immediately begins to convert it's sugars to starch. There is nothing like grabbing some ripe ears, husking them right there in the garden and then racing back to the house to a pot of boiling water that is ready and waiting.

Look what I found!

Cilantro!



I thought it looked suspiciously like something when I was weeding. I wasn't sure what kind of something it was, so I let it be. Patience is a virtue.

I love the quiet calm and repetitive motion of hand weeding. It's my time. My time when no children are yelling, "Mommy wipe my butt!". My time to ponder on the mysteries of life, such as the reasons why my Red rooster attacked my mother-in-law.

Gardening forgives, giving me a new chance every year.

And yet, this gardener wonders how many chances that Red rooster should have. Right now, he's hanging on by a very thin thread of grace.


For the You Capture challenge this week, Beth gave let us choose between "Green", "Hands", or "Chairs".

You Capture - "Green"