comin' out my ears

Cache Valley is an excellent place for growing many things:corn, green beans and most of all - zucchini. Ah, zucchini. how i love it. zucchini bread. zucchini cake. fried zucchini. roasted in the oven or grilled. added to my yummy tortellini soup. ah. yum.

there is one catch. since it grows so well, one plant is more than plenty for normal household consumption. because it just keeps on producing more and more zucchini. however, nobody grows just one plant. i planted two. and by the end of the season i will be begging people to take it off my hands. I heard a joke once that at the end of summer everyone locks their cars at church so nobody will sneak zucchini into them!

so, to my st. george family...look forward to a little gift when we come to visit.
:O)

speaking of zucchini. i have planted a garden this year. this makes the second time i have ever done one. And i am learning as i go. i won't admit the silly mistakes i've made so far. But it's been a great experience. this time i planted the following:

lettuce, spinach, peas, carrots, onions, parsnips, tomatoes, peppers, cilantro, green beans, corn, zucchini, pumpkins, watermelon, squash, cantaloupe and cucumbers. and sydney planted a sunflower which is doing very nicely. every night or as often as i can, i go out into the garden. once the kids are in bed. and i pull the weeds, water, thin and pick out vegetables that are ready to eat. we've been enjoying the zucchini, onions, lettuce and spinach (which are all done now and i've planted a new batch of spinach), carrots, and i just picked off three roma tomatoes that are ripe. being in the garden never appeals to me until i'm in it. i never think : "man, I'd love to be in my garden right now." But once i'm in it, i never want to leave. it becomes so peaceful and calming to pull those weeds. there's something therapeutic about nurturing something and watching it grow. nobody would come to my house and proclaim my flower beds exquisite (not by a LONG shot) or my garden glorious. but I certainly have put a lot of work into it and look forward to spending the rest of my summer continuing to work.

******

speaking of working: does it ever seem to anyone else that the list of small home projects only gets longer and longer and never seems to get any shorter?

sigh.

every time i finish one chore, i always seem to think of at least two more!

HAPPY PIONEER DAY!

(oddly enough, i feel like this post fits into a "pioneer" theme...)