Garden bounty.

Lewisburg.

The best of the garden's pleasures, of course, comes at this sort of moment:



That moment when you get inside with everything ripe, and think that, just a few months ago, all you had were a handful of little seeds. Especially, as in our case, when you've got something in your hand that you've never had successfully before. In this case, it's everything on the plate.

Technically, at least, because this is the first year I've had success growing my own seedlings. Sure, I've grown cucumbers from seed, though they didn't get far before the cucumber beetles destroyed them. And I suppose that summer squash aren't surprising, but the eggplant's thrilling. Even when we'd tried from purchased seedlings, the plants never looked half as good as the ones in the garden now. And those fruits that did start to grow were all ruined by something that took a single bite from each eggplant. Never ate more than that, which was rather frustrating. Presumably, if it didn't like the first one, the rest of them weren't going to taste any better.

On the plate, in case you're wondering, are: Listada de Gandia eggplant (the white and purple streaked ones); Lao Green Stripe eggplant (the white and green one); a cucumber (Parisian Pickling - the smaller ones are for cornichons); a zucchini (Black Beauty); a patty pan squash (Sunburst); and jalapeno and serrano peppers. We've been pulling more from the garden, too, including new potatoes, Dragon's Tongue snap beans, and scallions. Not to mention the greens, radishes, turnips, and other cold-weather crops from the spring. It's a lot of work - I've already spent several hours of my day weeding - but it feels worth it. Maybe it's just me, but is there anything quite like picking your dinner ripe from the backyard?

In a few minutes, I'm going out to see if the first Sun Gold tomatoes are ripe yet. They've been taunting us for days.