There is something very satisfying when you can walk in to your vegetable patch, and pick all the ingredients you need for tonight's tea!
Our allotment has turned into a jungle. Just having a fortnight away, a fortnight without picking, tidying and nurturing has turned our veg patch into a wild overgrown, mess - no that's not entirely fair, seen from our kids point of view our allotment has turned into an outdoor edible supermarket! They disappear down the rows, searching for the last peas, daring each other to see how much rocket they can eat that has turned quite 'hot' tasting and popping sweet cherry tomatoes into their mouths whole as if they were sweets.
And for tonight's tea, our first corn on the cob, light yellow in colour, its paleness making the kids wonder twice about them, until tasting them and all three declaring that it was the best sweetcorn they had ever tasted. Freshly dug up potatoes, a task done with the help of the kids, who squeal with delight when they find them hidden in the soil. Runner beans, which the kids now believe (thanks to their dad) that by eating them, they will run faster!! Tomatoes, in different shades of reds, yellows, and orange, some round, others the shape of strawberries, some the size of your hand, others so small they look like berries but all so tasty, and so fresh smelling. And then the courgettes, impossible for me to forget as while we where away, these lovely courgettes have grown into huge 'marrows'. And they are now part of our meal every evening in some manner. But I am not complaining, this time of the year, late summer is a time for a gardener (or his wife!) to indulge and feast upon the fruits of ones labour. To eat and enjoy and my word we all indulging in that!
