Happiness is...

Happiness is...harvesting 5 lbs. of organic tomatoes from my own backyard. Aren't they beautiful? I have decided I love growing tomatoes. I love growing other vegetables, too. But for some reason, tomatoes are turning out to be my favorite. I think it's because they give me such an ego boost...plant them in decent soil, water regularly, and you've got a success on your hands. It's just that simple. What's not to love?

The tomato plants are wild and unruly. (Maybe another reason I love them?) They are loaded with tomatoes of all sizes and at all stages of ripeness. I see spots of red and orange throughout the tomato patch and it makes me happy...I pluck each ripe beauty and set it in the basket.

I see little green tomatoes all over the place...and I have hope for the future. It means more salsa in my future...it means an opportunity to teach myself how to preserve some tomato sauce...it means I've made it one step closer to learning how to provide food for our family.

I harvested this basket full yesterday afternoon. I went out to the garden to check on something else and realized there were tons of tomatoes "ripe for the pickin'". By the time I was done and covered in dirt and leaves and smelling like a giant tomato plant, I realized the basket felt quite heavy. Maybe not heavy as much as it felt substantial.

I couldn't resist the temptation to actually weigh it: 5 lbs. I had to tally it up in my head if I were to buy these tomatoes at the store. Not bad...

I am loving growing tomatoes...yes I am. And the more I harvest...the more salsa Chris makes...the more I'm able to eat cherry tomatoes straight off the vine and still warm from the sun, the more I want to grow more and more tomatoes. I want to grow green tomatoes and orange tomatoes and purple tomatoes...oh, and white tomatoes! I can hardly wait for next summer!

Wait a minute...did I just say that? Me? Hardly able to wait for summer? Somebody check my temperature.