Gardening!!!

I have been inspired by some great meal pictures that I have seen online recently. Maggie posts daily pictures of her daughter's lunch and it looks so yummy! And, of course, you had pictures, dinner on a budget, and even recipes in the Iron Chef Mom Challenge that Meredith and Amy hosted. Lastly, there is Tammy's whole site! I have tried several of her recipes (Spinach Manicotti, Challah, Herb Bread, and Cinnamon Granola) and they have all been delicious.

So, tonight I give you our dinner, the best part of which was the salad made of arugula and red and green romaine from OUR GARDEN! (The chicken was from a sticky chicken recipe that calls for cooking the chicken at 250 degrees for 5 hours and produces a rotisserie style chicken. It was the first time that I tried it and it was very good.) Scan down to the bottom of the page for the recipe.

We worked very hard outside all day and one of the last things that I did was thin out the salad vegetables, which produced salad for tonight's supper and tomorrow's lunch. I can not even explain how ridiculously excited I am about our garden. It is like Christmas for me, only better (no shopping or traveling). I plant these little seeds and then get to watch as they grow and eventually they might even feed us!

Today, Joe hoed the entire garden into plantable rows (he had already tilled it), while I mowed the lawn. (I make a pretty comical picture with my 7 months pregnant self squeezed on to a riding lawn mower. And we'll not even mention the feat of getting on and off the mower without needing either a large shoehorn or small bulldozer to wedge me in.) We planted the roma beans and squash and the first planting of corn. We also transplanted my tomatoes from the starter trays into the garden. We still have one row left (not counting the space we're saving for future corn plantings), and I want to plant lima beans or peas. Joe is rooting for peanuts, cotton, or tobacco. :) We'll see who wins that one.

Now I realize that for you garden experts out there, this sounds quite commonplace. Not so for this city girl! This is our first big garden (we've had patches of garden before, but nothing like this) and I am just thrilled. We had a good steady rain throughout dinner time and so everything is nicely watered in.