Veggie Tales

Remember back in January, when Old MacDonald and his wife decided to plant some square foot gardens? I could hardly wait to be able to savor and share the fruit of our his labor. I put in my order… spinach for salads and smoothies… lots of lettuce… some broccoli, Brussels sprouts, summer squash…

…OK...actually, I can’t even remember all that I requested. In fact, I’m not completely sure what’s out there. It kind of looks like a jungle to me. This has actually become the husband’s pet project. Mr. Little Red Hen has done it all. He built the beds. He lugged the dirt. He planted the seeds. (OK, plants. He didn’t start from seed. The man is a salesman, not a farmer.)

He watered the plants…

…except when he is out of town. In those cases, I get the three syllable reminder. “Deb-or-ah… did you remember to water my garden?” I say that I have then skedaddle outside to make an honest woman of myself.

My job was supposed to be harvesting.

And then, overnight… those leafy greens burst forth into Vegetable Paradise. And I do mean overnight. Apparently, some vegetables grow as quickly and unexpectedly as daughters do.

Because when I went out for my walk yesterday morning, this is what I saw.

Doink!

So I ran like a happy camper up to my eaves where I keep my 4,276 baskets. And I found the one most similar to the arm basket in  my little fantasy land.

See?

Now, I happen to be fond of raw spinach. I do NOT happen to like cooked spinach. I have tried to like it, but it has the carrot and sweet potato effect on the tip of my tongue. Unfortunately, I also know that the best spinach for a fresh salad is that of a small leafed sort. And since I dropped the spinach ball and let ours grow into elephant ears, I figured that most of my first harvest would have to be used for something else.

So Popeye and Olive Oyl had pineapple/banana/spinach smoothies for breakfast. Now, I realize that the thought of a spinach smoothie probably triggers the ewwww button, but they are delicious.

And it came from our own garden.

So then I bagged up some more for the next few days.

And I shared a bag with a friend.

Because that was all part of the plan, too.

Today, I tackled some purpley green leafy stuff out there, and I’m planning a wonderful salad.
 And then...

...just as I was about to bring in the sheaves, I spotted THIS.

Broccoli.

The Great Green Hope.