Our best day ever...

About five months ago I welcomed my third son into the family and since then my life has been a whirlwind. Maybe you've noticed I have only posted like one time since then? Thanks Marisa for taking up soo much slack! And then, a couple months ago, when my new baby was three months old, I found out that once again I was expecting. Crazy stuff, eh? So needless to say, I've been tired.

This past weekend I was really ready for a break so we headed up north to Grandma & Grandpa's house. I love their place. They are probably my original inspiration for backyard farming. They have just under an acre but have turned it into an Idaho eden. At least in my mind. This weekend we were able to wander through their huge garden and pick and eat to our heart's content. We dug out huge red tomatoes from under their huge vines - tomatoes as sweet as strawberries and bursting with flavor in your mouth. We moved onto their yellow raspberries and I can assure you that only a handful made it into the bucket to take inside - most went quickly into our mouths. Their sweet flavor was better than any candy. Later both of my boys got to wander through the back and pick out their very own pumpkin. My seven year old son declared after the afternoon of filling our bellies with the bountiful fall harvest, "This is my best day ever!" And I have to admit, my day was just as good.

Gardens have healing properties beyond their nutritional values and herb teas. That day, just wandering down the wide rows of their backyard farm was rejuvenating. Pondering over the wonder of these treasures swept away my fatigue and replaced it with gratitude. The experience of tasting a tomato off the vine, still warm by the sun is like none other. It is life at it's richest and fullest. And it's moments like those that help us recognize the emptiness of television and other media. Those experiences help us distinguish between the deep and often complex flavors of reality and the manufactured saccharin sweet so readily available around us. And perhaps that may be the most important thing we harvest from our backyard farms.