Return of the Garden

All winter long, as we huddled under our down comforter, watching the snow fall and wondering if it would ever be warm again, we dreamed of our garden. In fact, we would even take walks to the community garden to look at the bedraggled ghosts of tomato plants, covered in snow, and reminisce. For fun, we would plot out where we were going to plant next year's veggies, what new additions we should make, what to do differently. Then the weather turned, and the sun came out, and the snow melted. Finally, May in Michigan. And, I am excited to announce, the 2008 planting of the McLaughlin garden has now occured.

We had a great time at a little community farm market and nursery picking out plants--we got 3 varieties of peppers, 3 varieties of tomatos, tons of seeds and even some flowers for decoration. Everything is in the ground and we go by every day to visit our children (some people say that a pet is a good substitution for a child....we substitute vegetables). My only fear is that after all the bounty of last year's harvest, we won't be so lucky. I scan the horizon for clouds of locusts daily. Fortunately, none yet. We'll keep looking.