What’s Growing in Your Garden?

Today is the last day of spring. Sigh. The longest day of the year is tomorrow, the summer solstice. It’s a good news/bad news kind of moment: bad news because the days will now grow a bit shorter with each passing sunset, but very good news in that gardening season is now in full swing. Harvesting has begun for early fruits and veggies (strawberry rhubarb pie, anyone?). And the farmers’ markets have opened for the season.
 

Around the homestead, plants both pretty and practical (and some a bit bossy) are enjoying the sun and the warmer temperatures and even those rainy days. Weeding is an unending chore, but the sweet smell of roses and the taste of freshly harvested herbs makes it all worthwhile. So what’s growing in your garden?

Hops bine.

The Berkshire Food Beat

Food. It’s something we deal with every day, sometimes with great thought and deliberation, sometimes for fun, sometimes reaching for comfort, sometimes just mindlessly munching. Lately I’ve been thinking quite a bit about food (no, I’m not on a new diet, just trying for healthier habits). 

There’s so much conflicting information out there, and the so-called experts seem to change their recommendations concerning what’s healthy and what isn’t as if on a whim. I’ve come to a few conclusions. First, moderation in all things is a very good thing, and I can eat pretty much whatever foods I want as long as I don’t go overboard. Second, I want nothing to do with GMOs (genetically modified organisms - foods tinkered with on a genetic level and created in a laboratory, resulting in something not possible in nature). Third, I prefer my food locally grown and organic when I can get it, though I’m in no way fanatical about this.  

This summer I’m exploring food here in the Berkshires and hope to share my discoveries with readers here. I’ll pen my experiences at farm stands and restaurants, as well as growing my own food and harvesting and preparing it.   

Where to begin? Dining out, dining in? Shopping at the farmers’ market or the organic grocery? Weeding the garden or adding new plants from the nursery? The possibilities leave me hungry to get started.

Blackberry flowers in bloom.