do you believe in magic?

I might.

Every morning I go out into our backyard to check on the single raspberry bush I planted earlier this year.  That's because lately, that bush has been doing some kind of magical things.  Every day I find about 10 or 12 perfectly ripe beautiful raspberries.  I pick them and they are immediately devoured by Ben & Lillian.  And every day I say to myself, well I guess that's the end of that. After all, it is September.  We are way past raspberry season!

But the next day, without fail, there are about 10 more perfect ripe raspberries.  It's starting to get a little weird! Magic or not, it sure does make for a purty picture.

a whole lotta firsts

peas from the garden. enough for more than one person to eat this time!

first time shelling peas in my life. very fun and satisfying.  green thumbs afterwards....

Farmer Ben has been waiting patiently for his carrot seeds to produce for what seems like forever.  Finally, today we decided to check what was going on down under...
Alas, small and skinny carrots. but a very proud little man:

and last but not least, in less than the time it takes to watch an episode of the Wiggles, Ben mastered riding his big boy bike without training wheels!  It was a momentous occasion and we all took note of the date.. July 9, 2011.  It seems like one of those things you do in life that you're so proud about and you'll just remember it forever. Although I can't seem to remember learning to ride a bike myself.

garden happenings

pea blossom

mountain laurel

first born

Right on schedule, our first ever crop of June bearing strawberries produced it's first ripe berry on the eve of June 1st!  I still am in disbelief when something I plant actually grows.  A long history of killing plants has seriously traumatized me!  Check out this beauty.  We will fight over who gets to eat the first one.  I've approximated we have about 75-100 berries coming.  Hopefully the birds won't see them before we do :)

ISO 100 f/3.5, 1/25/50mm

This whole daytime job thing is really cramping my weekly photo lunchbreak time.  ABCs:  Boston will have to be postponed until next week.

foreshadow...

of what's to come.
hopefully.
it the birds don't get them first.

ISO 200, f/2.5, 1/60, 50mm

first seed...

I firmly believe we are done with winter.  And my resident gardening expert Jenny Cox said it's Ok to go ahead and plant so we went ahead and planted our first crop of the season yesterday!  Hurray for hardy lettuce crops!

Last year was my first year gardening and I was so clueless, doing silly things like measuring inches between seeds with a ruler, overwatering my tomatoes, and planting weird things like lima beans.  Who eats lima beans anyway? And not only that, who takes up precious space in a raised bed with lima beans?  Not this year.  Since we're limited on space, we're planting only things we really love.  Spinach, broccoli, lettuce, carrots, berries and tomatoes.  Maybe peas and string beans if we can find space. 

Since it is only March 13, we're starting out with four varieties of lettuce.  I know the whole seeds-turning-into-food thing is not exactly a new concept, but it still seems so amazing to me that these little tiny buggers can become delicious pieces of lettuce in just 30 days. 

ISO 100, f/2.2, 1/1250, 50mm

Ben is really excited about the garden this year and lately he's been asking about healthy food in general. I love teaching him about different types of food and what we need to eat to be healthy.  The stuff about nutrients is probably flying over his head, but I'm a nutritionist wannabe so I'll keep trying.

my helper
ISO 100, f/2.8, 1/2500, 50mm

ISO 100, f/3.5, 1/500, 50mm

I'm getting pretty fast at switching my auto focus point around the 9 point diamond, probably to my detriment here. I switched the focus to be on Ben's fingers and I find now when I look at this shot, I wish the focus were on his face.  Also, wish that trash can weren't in the back.  But I still really like this shot. I like the way the sun is on his back and he has a small smile on his face.  So happy to be doing the planting by himself.