Just A Little Bit of Monday

Most mornings Hubbs helps me with chores.

Yesterday, however, I told him to sleep in and I headed out by myself.

I do my best thinking, planning, and scheming when I do morning chores alone.

I love this time of day... 

when most people haven't even greeted the day...

I get to see my friends and do some really great thinking.

As I rolled the muck cart out to the donkey yard,

I spied TomTom curiously examining a turtle.

The turtle was headed toward the donkey yard...

a potentially dangerous path for this little slow-crawler.

I stopped to say hello and picked him up and set him on a safer course.

I've been seeing lots of turtles these days (and snakes, too)...

 the gift of a wet Spring.

While out doing chores, I checked the garden to see what was ready.

The sugar peas have tons of blossoms...

and the start of a plentiful harvest.

I picked a few veggies and headed home to make breakfast.

One of the benefits of growing your own fruits and vegetables,

other than the obvious cost savings and nutritional benefits,

is the intimate relationship you form with your food.

Walking down a grocery aisle does not give you the same relationship with the food

that you eat as growing your own.

Also, there is a certain energy that you can feel in plants as they grow...

and to pick their fruits and eat immediately transfers that energy into your body.

To me, it's something that goes beyond calories and nutrients.

You might think me a little strange, but it's almost a spiritual experience.

Needless to say, we eat a lot of vegetables during the 7 months that the garden is producing.

We even eat vegetables for breakfast!

Asparagus quiche, sautéed just-picked veggies, fresh tomatoes from a local farmer...raised in a hoop house.

These days breakfast is served in the screen porch.

We eat and watch the hummingbirds, while listening to the songbirds who inhabit the woods

around our house.

Living here on the farm has made us appreciate our "neighbors" and we have tried to 

learn to identify them both by sight and by song.

It's another way of feeling more connected to our surroundings.

Yesterday was laundry day.

At one point in the morning I stopped to check if the wash had dried

and found this...

Bobby (our barn/garage wanderlust kitty) found a new place to rest.

Don't be fooled by the scowl on his face... he is a very happy cat.

Bobby is always a source of smiles around here.

Hope he gave you one as well!