First tomatoes!

Actually, the very first tomato came out about two weeks ago. It was nearly ready to be picked when I noticed it had disappeared from the vine. I asked my youngest daughter first, "Callie, did you eat my tomato?" She looked at me like I was crazy, so I moved on. My husband responded similarly, so when I found my oldest daughter, I said, "Brynn, how did that tomato taste?" "It was great, Mom!" I knew it...isn't the first tomato supposed to be reserved for the person who composted, dug, planted, watered, hardened off, planted again, watered some more, staked, and sang to the plants? Where was SHE when all of that was going on? Typical, right? I know I did the same thing to my mom.

Payback came today when I brought in a whole colander full of tomatoes and a bunch of carrots, too. The girls chowed the carrots and tomatoes along with their veggie pizza tonight, but even Scott and I got to eat some of the goodies with our dinner, too.

It's time to harvest my broccoli -- I think it is as ready as it will ever be (one of the florets has turned into flowers). I need to pull out the plants since they are blocking the sun from my tiny tomatoes behind them. I'm planning to plant more carrots and I've already planted more lettuce, although it hasn't germinated yet. We've had so much lettuce in our CSA box that I've only picked a few heads from our garden. Most of it looked good until this week -- now it's nearly ready to go to seed. I think I'll just let it bolt and then compost it. Maybe I'll save the seeds first...

Here are some photos from the garden today.

Tomatoes

More tomatoes.

Carrots, parsnips, brussel sprouts, and more tomatoes.

Broccoli ready to come out. Don't you love the huge heads of broccoli we have here? Yes, they are like miniature broccoli. I felt inadequate until I saw that the same kind of broccoli comes in my CSA box. Maybe it's the altitude?

Overgrown lettuce patch.

Tomatoes about to be picked.

My littlest thief trying to get her hands on some grape tomatoes.

Orange is her favorite color, so it's only natural that she would adore carrots fresh from the dirt. My only regret is that I didn't plant MORE of them. She inhaled her carrots with her dinner tonight.

Mmmm...A perfect summer portrait. Hair wet from the hot tub, hands full of the freshest veggies. What more could a kid want?