To The Surbiton Manor Born

  Bam! Strawberries! We have this tendency to go on vacation over the summer solstice. While we were gone, the garden burst into life. Just about every year, this is right when the strawberries are ready for harvest. This was no different, except that we were able to harvest right before we left instead of missing it. We only have one 4x8 bed of strawberries, so we don't get too many. But those that we do get are delicious. While we were on our road trip in our new van to Pictured Rocks National Park on Lake Superior and in Charlevoix, Michigan, running the marathon there, the garden was busy growing. Pound sign Van Life is fantastic. My whole life I have wedged my camping gear into small cars because they make sense. You only go camping rarely, and it isn't worth sacrificing gas mileage in a daily driver for a couple of weeks a year. K. and I looked longingly at fancy travel vans - Mercedes Sprinters that cost $200K. Do-it-yourself Fords that would sit in the driveway 50 weeks...

  There's a time for talking (writing), and a time for doing. It's been a time for doing over the past couple of weeks.  On Memorial Day we had some help from our friends from Dreamacres . It was a huge lift for getting the peppers and tomatoes into the ground.  As of today, we have in the ground and hopefully growing: Cucumbers (x6) Zucchini (x6) Acorn squash (an undetermined number - some have been replanted because of a failure to germinate) Roma tomatoes Wisconsin Chief tomatoes Tiny Tim tomatoes Lettuce Spinach Rocket Beets Sunflowers Nasturtiums Marigolds Sunflowers Pole beans Bush beans Sugar snap peas Yakteen squash (a favorite in Palestine, in solidarity against ongoing the Israeli genocide there) Strawberries (lots of little green ones) Raspberries (many, many raspberries) Nothing is very tall. I guess I always get nervous this time of year. It will surely ripen.