It has been a busy week in the heirloom kitchen garden! We’re in the midst of a heat wave, so the veggies are growing like crazy. My girls are helping out with weeding and my 5 year old actually eats her greens! We’ve also been talking a lot about the history of the seeds and how different some of our plants and veggies look than what we have purchased at the store. Personally, I’ve eaten more radishes in the past couple of weeks than I have in my entire life. The heirloom variety aren’t bitter at all! They remind me of kohlrabi or jicama in terms of taste and texture. And it seems like every time I cut a huge head of Lollo Rosso lettuce, 10 more grow in its place!

We put up some chicken wire to keep out Peter Rabbit and his buddies, although a close inspection of the leaves tells me that rabbits aren’t our only problem! Birds are picking off our blueberries and we have so many frogs, I’m expecting a plague of locusts to descend on us next!

This week we have beautiful Early Jersey Wakefield Cabbage flowers:

Rainbow Swiss Chard that I picked up as seedlings about 6 weeks ago from Colman’s, a local farm:

Surprisingly, the White Belgian Carrots are thriving – they will be ready in about 30 days. And both of our corn varieties, Strawberry Popcorn and Wade’s Giant Indian Flint Corn are indeed ‘knee high by the 4th of July!” Or waist high if you are 9 years old:

 The Brandywine Tomatoes are finally sprouting and the Dark Purple Basil is going CRAZY! Can’t wait to taste a tricolore salad with fresh Mozzerella cheese from Zingerman’s creamery, fresh basil and warm tomatoes picked from the garden, drizzled with olive oil!

The best part of the garden, though, has been family bonding. Fresh air, manual labor and organic vegetables appear to be the antidote to sibling rivalry this summer.