Fruit(s) of Our Labor

I'm thrilled to report that we just harvested our first strawberry from the new Gerber Family Garden! We actually had a couple promising candidates last week, but some critter (rat? squirrel? raccoon?) ran off with them before we could pick them.

Today, we managed to get there first and after splitting the strawberry into four minuscule portions, we all concluded that it tasted like -- a strawberry! Imagine that.

The other plants are doing well and hopefully in a month or so we'll have tomatoes and zucchini. This gardening thing is fun!

Giving "Props" to Scott

Scott is a little miffed that he hasn't been getting any photo credits here in Blog-land. So, to set the record straight, I would like to mention that he took the photos of the boys in their costumes a couple of entries back. In addition, he took all of the adorable photos you'll find below. Way to go, Scott!

Oakland Zoo

More Fun With the New Camera

Shutterbug

Scott and I finally gave in and bought the DSLR camera that we've been longing for. We did a lot of research on the various options and ended up going with the Sony Alpha 500. The main reason we chose this option over the excellent Canons and Nikons and the super-cool micro 4/3 Panasonic was because we discovered that my Dad's old Minolta lenses were compatible. Apparently, Sony bought Minolta many years ago and reverse engineered the Alpha series to work with automatic Minolta lenses (post 1985 or so). Now, we not only have a camera with a kit lens, but we have a 35-105 lens, a 100-300 lens, and a gigantic 400mm telephoto that will come in handy if we have to do reconnaissance work! It feels really special to be able to use something that once meant so much to my father. Even seeing his old camera bag brought back a rush of memories. I know he would be thrilled that we are so excited about the equipment and the hobby that he loved. I only wish he were here with us so that he and I could talk f-stops and shutter speed over a cup of coffee. I miss you, Dad.

This morning I took the camera and the boys down to Crab Cove and the farmer's market. It was fun to try out the camera's various settings. I have a lot to learn, but at least I have two cute and willing subjects here at home!

Lord of the Flies?

We had a great time on Friday exploring Roberts Regional Recreation Area up in the Oakland hills with our friends Mick and Ian. There was an amazing playground and a redwood grove that provided endless opportunities to explore, look for bears, and "hunt" with bows and arrows (???!!!). I'm the mother of two boys, so I guess I better get used to this sort of thing, but it was unsettling to see Max wave his bow around and make gunfire noises.

Sigh...

"Inch by inch, row by row..."

The boys and I have taken a leap of faith into the world of gardening. Last fall we ripped out an overgrown tulip tree that had completely taken over a sunny expanse along our fence. This left a big patch of bare dirt, and being a resident of the Bay Area, I thought to myself, "What would Alice Waters do?" Well, Ms. Waters would undoubtedly plant purple kale and heirloom beans and variegated okra. Then she would harvest her crops and prepare an award-winning vegetarian fritatta that her husband and children would love. Meanwhile, she would also use her 3 x 6 patch of earth to grow enough produce to single-handedly revolutionize school lunches and save the children of America from obesity and early death.

At that point, I decided to stop thinking about Alice Waters. My husband and children could happily subsist on neon orange macaroni and cheese. I'd be lucky to get a single vegetable down the gullet of any one of them, let alone into the bellies of chicken-nugget addicted children everywhere.

Maybe, I thought, if I could get Henry and Max involved in the garden, they would actually willingly eat some of the produce we were able to grow there! What a concept! A garden has dirt. The boys like dirt! A garden needs water. The boys love to water! A garden produces vegetables. The boys love...

Well, let's not get ahead of ourselves.

In any case, tilling the soil turned out to be a big hit. The boys have also helped me to water the plants each and every day. It's been a couple weeks and I'm happy to report that nothing is dead yet (though someone munched a few holes in the zucchini leaves and the basil looks spotty). In fact, several of the strawberry plants have actually sprouted little green strawberries! I live in the suburbs and I'm as "estranged from my labor" as any effete member of the bourgeousie is likely to be, so this really does strike me as a minor miracle. Real live produce actually growing in my own yard! Who would have thought it possible??!!

I'm not sure if any of the Gerber boys will actually eat healthier meals as a result of this little experiment, but it can't hurt. I think Alice Waters would approve.