For All Things, A Season

I still remember how anxious I was for that first summer squash. I love squash, and I even start summer squash plants under grow lights to get a jump-start on the season. I tell myself that, before I know it, I'll have summer squash literally coming out of my ears.....but I don't care. I still get SO excited watching the baby squash grow to full size.

Right now, of course, I'm begging people to take them off my hands. And I'm trying to work them into every meal. I actually found a recipe for double chocolate zucchini bread that could be my saving grace this season. And that fried zucchini recipe ROCKS. Still, I laugh to think of how I yearned for that first squash.

Right now, we're all waiting for the tomatoes. They're such a coy fruit. There they sit, all plump and big.....and green. The first couple have ripened, but it's just a tease. There aren't enough to do more than dice them up on a salad. That flavor can't be beat, though. No tomato tastes right unless it's just been picked from the vine and is still warm from the sun.

Ah, but talk to me in a couple of weeks! I'll have no room. Well, it might be because I planted 75 tomato plants this year. OK, that might be going a TAD bit over-board. I will, I assure you, get to the point where I am handing them out to strangers walking down the street. Beware!

Still, I know that the day will come when the vines have withered and the cold has shut down production, and then I'll once again yearn for that abundance, for that exuberant production that the garden gives for the season.