Yes, it’s true. My cucumbers make me happy. No, no, no. Not the happy Superbowl banned PETA ad kind of way. C’mon, people. Get your mind out of the gutter. ;)
This morning as I was packing my kids’ lunches for summer camp (they go two days per week to the Waldorf preschool that Ava has attended the past two years), I made a sandwich wrap, put in some organic blueberries and some Goldfish crackers from BlogHer (yes, we’re eating the swag). I wanted to throw in a vegetable as well, but only had carrots and spinach in the fridge and wasn’t excited about sending either. That’s when I remembered, I have vegetables growing right in my backyard!
I walked about 20 steps out my backdoor, into my garden, plucked a cucumber off the vine, brought it into the house and sliced it for their lunches. Problem solved!
It’s moments like this that I’m so happy to have my little organic garden. Although it hasn’t turned out to be quite what I wanted it to be this year, I have learned and continue to learn a lot and am enjoying the experience, even if it includes digging up plants and repotting them in pots so I can move them to where the sun is. ;) We might not ever get eggplants, carrots or zucchini in our garden this year (due to enormous amounts of shade), but we will have cucumbers. Lots and lots of cucumbers. And that makes me happy.
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Melodie says:
Cucumbers are the only thing I have successfully harvested from our garden this year too. Only so far I have only grabbed two. Hope the potatoes turn out for us too. All leafy veggies have been eaten by critters!
July 29th, 2009 at 10:56 pm
Summer says:
I love that!
July 29th, 2009 at 11:43 pm
Margaret says:
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July 30th, 2009 at 6:18 am
Niecey says:
They look so yummy. I only just got some cucumber seeds in the ground this weekend at the same time as some cauliflower and broccoli. It said in my zone I can plant through July…so here’s hoping. The community garden tills up the ground at the end of October, so I’m nervous some of my late starts won’t make it in time.
I’m trying to think what you could grow next year that will thrive in shade…I know mint does well. Our rhubarb used to do good in shade too…
July 30th, 2009 at 8:03 am
Jennifer McNichols says:
Awesome cucs! We’ve tried to grow cucumbers in our garden for years and never have any success with them. Yet still, every year we plant them and every year they die without producing a single cucumber. Our garden has been finished for months due to the early extreme heat in Texas but we loved having fresh veggies just outside and I’m hoping we’ll have a small Fall garden!
July 30th, 2009 at 8:27 am
Sheryl from A Much Better Way says:
I grew up with a garden in the backyard and would always munch stuff right off the vine while I was running around playing. :) It was the best!
July 30th, 2009 at 8:38 am
phyllis says:
i was recently complaining how very little has ripened yet in my garden, and someone (a veteran veggie grower) told me that this year has been terrible for the plants here in Chicago. We just haven’t had enough sun and warmth. I do have 2 little cukes that are starting to look like real food…can’t wait to taste them!
Yours are really pretty!:-)
July 30th, 2009 at 10:18 am
Amber says:
I have cucumbers. Crazy amounts of cucumbers. None are ready for picking yet, but I have at least a dozen plants that have gone CRAZY. I can’t wait to eat mine, too.
July 30th, 2009 at 12:53 pm
Wilma Ham says:
We are having a serious veggie garden for the first time and I too can feel so priviliged and prosperous when I go out to harvest dinner.
What I have found too that since eating this fresh food, I am less craving rubbish. I think this fresh food is far more filling and nutritious than I thought. What a bonus.
July 30th, 2009 at 5:25 pm
Rachel says:
You know, I sometimes forget that I have food in the backyard too! Your cukes look amazing.
July 30th, 2009 at 8:38 pm
Whitney says:
A friend and I were just talking about home-grown cucumbers this morning. They are sooo yummy. Too bad I kill everything. :o(
July 31st, 2009 at 6:48 am
Green Me Alison says:
Oscar Wilde said, “We are all in the gutter, but only some of us look up and see the cucumbers!” (Or was it “stars?”)
July 31st, 2009 at 3:54 pm
Angela says:
My second-oldest went through an “i don’t eat non-lettuce veggies” phase, but if i put some soy sauce, roasted sesame oil, and sesame seeds on sliced cucmber, she’d somehow eat a whole bowlful.
I it’s true for most folks that are gardens don’t turn out how we envision them when we’re thumbing through seed catalogs in January, but I’m glad yours is still growing you yummy things for the lunchbox. :)
August 1st, 2009 at 9:52 am
EcoGlam says:
A new fan is born! Just started exploring your blog and loving it so far…esp activism. Thanks for having and maintaining this…
August 2nd, 2009 at 6:18 pm
» Environmentally Friendly - Healthy Lifestyle and Nutrition tips for Healthy Homes says:
[...] lunch is easy when you’ve got your own garden! Crunchy Domestic Goddess muses over her homegrown [...]
August 3rd, 2009 at 8:47 am
KiwiLog says:
Hi! We really liked your post and decided to feature it as a part of our weekly mom blog round-up over at KiwiLog. Thanks for the great info!
August 3rd, 2009 at 8:51 am
Susan says:
I love fresh veggies right out of the garden. I just don’t have much luck growing anything myself. This was the first year my cucumber plants didn’t die, but they haven’t grown either. Not sure what I do wrong. I did get 1 precious tomato. A huge step! Maybe next year…
August 19th, 2009 at 10:50 pm