Given the amount of work involved in turning a hayfield into a Market Garden, it is easy to get lost in the tasks. However, every now and then, the garden surprises me with a joyful moment. Today I was fortunate to have two… the first was the discovery that one of my purple asparagus broke ground! I was planting flowers in the adjacent bed and leaned over to pull some weeds in what will be the asparagus patch when what do my wondering eyes should see? A purple asparagus shooting out of the ground. It was beautiful and made me smile, while pulling a few more weeds I discovered a second one! I know it will still be a few more years before I can harvest my asparagus, but it still makes me happy to see they are indeed growing.

The second joyful moment of the day occurred again when I was planting flowers in another bed. This time I was surprised by a small toad that hopped out of one of the holes I had just dug. He (or she) must be living between the weed barrier and the ground and used me hole as an opportunity to escape and get some fresh air! Its appearance again made me smile and I paused a moment to watch it hop over to the grassy, or rather hay path. I then continued planting. A little later the toad returned and hopped over to check out the path on that side. Good thing Daisy wasn’t around as she might have thought Mr. Toad a toy or a playmate and that might have been the end of Mr. Toad!

With all the work and never-ending tasks to complete it is easy to forget to take a moment and pause. Little events like these are reminders of how wonderful life is and how much there is to appreciate in the world. I love living in the country!

Joyful Moments in the Garden

Building a Bocce Ball Court

Bugs!