Spring has sprung!

Spring! What a wonderful time of year! The weather here in SoCal has been just wonderful lately. It is encouraging us to get outside! On the weekend I noticed everyone seemed to be outside enjoying the sun and warmth! There were car washers, bicyclers, boaters, and gardeners.

Now is the best time to begin a garden! Get outside, pick out a small spot, or maybe a large spot, to plant something and watch it grow. What a wonderful place we live, what wonderful blessings we enjoy. We can pick out seeds, plant them in the ground around our homes and give them a little water occasionally - the end result? Food! The best tomatoes you've ever eaten. Cantaloupe, watermelon, all kinds of squash, cucumbers, peppers, and almost anything else you can think to grow.

I've named the essentials needed for a garden. A small plot of soil, seeds, and water. Nature takes care of the rest. However, seeds are very important. We have jars of seeds in the garage that have been harvested by my father-in-law for years. He was a farmer and for more years than he could remember, a portion of his crop would go to seed. They would be saved and then used the following year. He grew the best tomatoes! My daughters would get off the school bus by grandpa's house every afternoon. They would walk from the bus to the house meandering through the field. It wasn't easy to hide the fact that you had spent a bit of time in the field prior to coming in to check in with grandma. She could always spot a seed that dribbled down to a shirt, or a tell tale "tomato rash" from eating too many ripe cherry tomatoes at one time. Nothing replaces the memory of spending time in grandpa's garden.

So where does one purchase seeds? A favorite of mine is at the Shaker Museum Store. The grow and gather seeds just the way they did back in the 1800s. Another is Burpee Seeds. Either will get you seeds to grow a garden you can take pride in and share your bounty with everyone you know.

So get out there and grow something to eat!