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A gift from summer!

Posted at 5:55 PM on January 23, 2008 by Sareen Dunleavy Keenan

Another post about the amazingly helpful people in my life. A coworker walked over after hearing about the project and brought the best gift I could imagine getting. Seriously. She gave me 1 gallon of raspberries straight from her garden this past year. Who knew that a simple gift could make me so happy? Making this commitment is about planning. Every summer there comes a time when I go on raspberry overload. I slack off on the picking, production slows and the precious berries fall to the ground. I now know the joy that they can bring on a cold winter day and I will not be making that same mistake again.

Raspberries aren't the only piece of produce I have been known to leave on the vine too long. Zucchini's. That should be all that needs to be said, but in case you aren't familiar with these beasts, one or two extra days in the sun can lead to a 2-3 fold increase in their size. OK, 2-3 days is probably a week in my world, but seriously, if you don't keep an eye on these buggers, they get unruly. Just last summer we had zucchini that were bigger than our 3 month old baby. Now that is some dinner!

Beans, tomatoes ... when the peak season comes, they all flood me and require that I quit my day job to focus on harvesting. One look at the checkbook indicates that it is the garden that must wait an extra day or two instead of work.

I love a beautiful Sunday afternoon spent harvesting, processing and canning the vegetables. Lets hope for a prolific bounty this summer! I am prepared and inspired.