The rain has been consistent since last night.  Consistently dripping, at times pouring, but mostly misting, keeping the air very heavy and wet.  I am quite sure this is just the weather vegetable plants adore.  Pregnant women on the other hand?  Well, we have to take solace in the idea that this weather produces delicious meals to satisfy us because surely, surely, wading through our kitchen to pour a cup of coffee is not ideal.

We pulled our first zucchini from the garden yesterday.  It was short, sweet, smooth, and crunchy.  I can’t help but be reminded this time of year that all this, (minus our tomatoes and brocolli), started off in egg cartons when the ground was still frozen and the air was crisp and dry.  I don’t miss those days right now, despite my previous thoughts.  The most magical piece of art in our garden, and the most spectacularly grown in size, must be the cabbage.  It looks like a giant purple rose to me, baffling me with the fact that her seeds were no bigger than a poppy seed at the start.  I truly look forward to those thick leaves being tamped down into some jars to be fermented and stored for the winter.  I had to pull up a few dozen watermelon radishes this week, handing them over to a neighbors piglets to enjoy, for they were stunted and nawed on by some sort of maggot or worm.  I started a new, this time with french radishes, the little two toned oval-shaped classics that you can envision with butter, or on a tray of fresh raw vegetables.  I hope this comes to fruition.  I have heard the worm bothering me so is a springtime pest so I shouldn’t have to worry for the rest of the growing season.

In the land surrounding my beautiful fence built with love everything is coming together as well.  Black raspberries have blackened, the juiciest star cherries off of our newly discovered cherry tree have dripped down our chins, at least the ones the birds havent carried away, and little apples are beginning their life way up our of our reach.  Everything is thick and thorny and damp and mysterious.  We spend a lot of time just wandering.  Slowly mind you, but when you are 3 or 4, slowly is preferable anyways.  So we get along just fine most of the time.  Yesterday, one of these slow stops allowed us to investigate a flitting bird traveling in and out of a brambly berry bush.  It was a lovely find.  Piles of ripened berries are always toted around but mostly enjoyed at the time of picking.  So many interesting insects are plucked up and thoroughly examined.

This is a lively, lively time of year.