A rainy afternoon,something not all that common for July,but welcome nonetheless.We have gone from a totter,to the hundred yard dash here on the  banks of the crystalline Toe.Squash lives in my dreams,a vast vining serpent,hurling slender nutty fruits at my unassuming cerebrum.Beans threaten us with mutiny,their pods growing by the minute.The tomato clan is starting to shift,our first thirty pints and twenty pounds of fruit safely consumed by unsuspecting mouths.They will never be the same.Seeds spun from the earthway seeder sprout in a matter of hours not days and weeds frolic.Looking out onto the main field,it is a mat of green.No longer a mosaic of brown soil patches,now a frontal assault of verdancy invites the senses.Can you tell I love summer?My hands smell of a combination of basil ,cilantro and dill.My lips smack of fresh pulled carrot and anise flavored fennel bulb.Carmella my fierce seven year old daughter chows whole fennel bulbs like lollipops,just a chip of the old block.New potatoes litter the soil behind me,purple,red,golden.I ingest them as homefries,gnocchi,mashers and tater salad.Great to harvest things when you are hungry.Most people advise me to eat breakfast,but somehow I never get around to it.In a way it spurs my creativity in the kitchen,as each member of the veggie family informs my culinary juices as to its intent.

Pigs grow ,frolicking in the rain,rolling like land whales in their mud wallow.Gerda our milk cow grows in girth ,a baby calf is expected in August.Even at the zenith of this cascade of veggies, we have to keep our eyes on the fall and what we plant now will determine how abundant that season is.For now though,let us dwell in the sweetness of summertide!Here are your homeboys and homegirls for this week.

squash

cukes

carrots

fennel

lettuce

taters

basil

cilantro

Eat well dear people!!!!!