Spring is Here!! (Almost)

Happy St. Patrick's Day!  For those of you who are yearly parade goers in Central New York, you got a special treat today with summer-like weather rather than the "wintery mix" we are usually reveling in this time of year.  I'm obviously being sarcastic about that last part, I love the term "wintery mix" though.  You basically just throw every possible type of precipitation out of the sky at the same time, maybe add a few lightning bolts for fun and there you have Syracuse in the late winter/early spring.  But not this year!  No, we are enjoying an early taste of summer and it's got me very anxious to start enjoying spring and summer food.

While the rest of CNY was donning their green today downtown, I was celebrating a little different kind of green.  My garden!

I started my seeds a few weeks ago, and already I have quite the array of sprouts.  If you're looking for a way to be a little more green and sustainable with your food, this is a great way to do it.  Many people think that having a garden takes way too much time and energy, but it doesn't have to.  Your garden can be as big or as small as you want it to be.  You can even just commit to a few pots of tomato plants if you have a sunny spot on a deck or patio, no real digging necessary.

Growing your own food is a great experience and if you have children I strongly recommend giving it a try.  Some of my favorite memories growing up were in our family garden, helping to plant or picking veggies for dinner.  It's a great way to get your kids interested in the food they eat and maybe even more willing to try a few more vegetables.  If they invest some time and effort into watching the garden grow, it will be difficult for them to turn away the end product.  Plus, you can't get any fresher than your own garden which means that the food not only tastes better, but it's better for you.  I could go on and on about the benefits of having a garden...but the main point is, they're pretty easy and so rewarding so give it a try!  Here's what's growing in our garden this summer: bell peppers, grape tomatoes, roma tomatoes, broccoli, eggplant, zucchini, yellow squash, green beans, sweet peas, carrots, basil, parsley, cilantro, rosemary, arugula, and cucumbers.  Many of these are new this year for us, since we are expanding our little raised garden to give more vegetables a try, so I'll keep you posted on how they turn out!

The little seedlings scoping out their future home.