Strawberries!!!

Today is considered a family holiday! We pause to mark the first day of the 2013 strawberry harvest. This day has been anticipated almost as much as Christmas. I have 2 old strawberry patches and one bed of new plants, planted earlier this year. The newbies are the first to ripen,  unsurprisingly. I know I was supposed to pinch off the first set of flowers but how could I possibly bring myself to do that? I'll give them extra compost, I promise :-)

In a heroic team effort, my almost-3yo and the 4 1/2yo teamed up to produce decoy strawberries. They are supposed to fool the red red robin we've seen stalking our gardens... (I learned about this on pinterest, where the decoy strawberries looked picture perfect, of course, but I think we'll roll with the work of the two proud painters for now).

I spy with my little eye... something RED!

 Some more gratuitous 'what's growing right now' pictures for you...

Herb garden with oregano, mint, sage, thyme (2 kinds), rosemary, lavender, lemon balm, parsley, chives, cilantro and morning glories for a little pretty.

squash #1 (the labels wore off my markers... oops)

Tomatoes, and pole beans and corn behind them

 squash #2