Taters 'n Radishes

This weekend yielded some of the first fruits in our garden: Radishes, potatoes, and bush beans. To celebrate the late spring bounty, I prepared two salads for dinner. Old-fashioned potato salad (family recipe) and a salad I invented from blanched green beans, garbanzo beans, black olives and smoky sausage. Both were a hit with my husband, who, before tasting, was probably secretly a little less-than-enthused about a dinner plate heaped with salad.

Things just taste better right out of the garden! Textures are better, flavors are more intense- all buoyed on the comfort of knowing that your food hasn’t absorbed any chemical fertilizer or been doused in poison. I highly recommend that everyone try some kind of gardening at least once, even if it’s just a tomato in a pot on your balcony or in a window. There is something thrilling about watching a the flourish of a sudden blossom, watching the blossom whither and disappear, and then watching the slow green swell of a fruit grow heavy on its vine. Each day is filled with anticipation of the flavors developing within those neat, brightly colored packages of  solar radiation and mineral compounds- vitamins that will sing into our bloodstream, brightening our skin and putting shine into our eyes. Embrace the process of food production from beginning to end- it’s so much more complete and magical!

This radish has split its pants.