Fruits of our Labor

Although the hubby and I are taking a Texas Master Gardeners Class - we are by no means master gardeners.  We are working together and learning daily how to help the soil work for us.  That said, in the past month or two, after the blessed rains brought us some much needed relief from the worst drought since 1894, we have benefited from the occasional zucchini and some serious jungle growth.

And while even the occasional small zucchini is enough to give us a rush of pride - tonight's harvest was enough to push us over the edge!  Enough to play a big roll in our dinner preparation and a big roll in our dinner conversation.

A beautiful green bell pepper to flavor our chicken and rice.

And more than enough zucchini to toss together with some garlic and olive oil.

Half of the dinner I served my family tonight came from my backyard.  It got its water from myself or my husband or one of the boys.  We watched for pests and pruned as needed.  We pulled the weeds and fed the soil.  And at the end of the day we made a damn good - if not very exciting - meal, and that feels better than I ever thought it could.

A day marred with the blahs, sitting in training that was less than satisfactory was pulled up by it's bootstraps and marched to the front of the stage to take one hell of a bow.

Television, Schmellevision

Yesterday, before football practice, Jared took me outside to pick zucchini and water all the plant babies. Luke fought him for the hose and there were some wet practice pants last night and there are some hyper hydrated tomatoes today, but we smiled and laughed. When he and daddy left Lukers and I sauteed the Zucchini, threw in a little corn, topped it all with parmesan shavings and shared a plate, at the big table, in the tall chairs, covered in corn kernels after he decided to feed us both himself. Then we just went about our night, folding clothes, reading books, doing dishes. When Jared and Daddy got home I fed them too, we talked about all the guys Jared tackled, sent him off to brush his teeth, snuck him a cinnamon almond to completely deface his clean teeth and sent him off to bed. Gabriel and I sat up and discussed the potential, upcoming cutting of the cable cord and then went to bed. All this with only Classic Rock streaming in the background. It was one of the best nights I've had in a long, long time.