Despite the flooding in our community garden plot, the season wasn’t a complete failure. The green beans in our yard are never-ending and you’re looking at a beautiful heirloom that made its way into a simple caprese salad tonight. I picked this tomato about a week ago even though it wasn’t quite ready. It was getting large and heavy and I didn’t want to take my chances of losing it if it toppled over. That already happened to us once this season. I stared at it day after day wanting to bite into it, but patience paid off and tonight it was finally ready. I didn’t take a picture tonight before I sliced into it, but here it was about a week ago. Ain’t she a beaut? Anyway, our baby starting wiggling around and kicking like crazy after I ate this salad, so I guess I’m not the only one who enjoyed it. I hope this child appreciates all the good food we eat around our home.

On another note: our sad, abandoned, ruined community garden plot came to surprise me this week. It’s completely overgrown with weeds, but I was shocked to see we actually had some vegetables growing in there, despite the fact that I haven’t visited the plot since the flood. Our green bell pepper plant looked healthy, and there were some stray summer squash and cucumbers on the ground. We can’t eat them in case the soil is contaminated, but it was still pretty cool to see. In a matter of weeks, we’re moving to California and I think I’ll keep an herb basket on our balcony. I might keep a tomato plant out there too, or some other crop that does well in containers and grows well on the West Coast. I guess I have some more learning to do, and I can’t wait!