We're not the only ones who eat well from the garden. Nasty squash bugs aside, many beneficial insects come to dine -- and pollinate. Now, in the heat of the summer, everything is in full bloom and in the mornings, nearly every blossom is brunch for someone. Echinacea is far and away the crowd favorite. We often find bees weighted down by so much pollen that, as you can see in the photo below, they look as though they're wearing yellow pantaloons. And they often get so "drunk" from their bounty that they lie there in a stupor for as much as 20 minutes before they muster up the energy to fly off.
Bees big and little seem amenable to sharing their food sources with one another, as well as with moths and butterflies. We often see several dining together, either sharing a "table" on a single flower or playing musical chairs, swapping blossoms in time to their own internal music.
A quick morning pick fills the basket...
While the "good" insects enjoy the nectar of the flowers, we're now in full harvest mode in the vegetable garden. It's not unusual to pull a dozen cucumbers at a time, and the zucchini are just as productive. Tomatoes are starting to ripen, the beans are coming in, eggplant are filling out nicely, and the okra is starting to blossom. We're about to be overwhelmed!
This is the first year that I don't have office colleagues to share the bounty with, so anyone who comes to visit goes home with a full CSA from our garden! I do freeze and can much of the harvest, but there are some veggies that are far better fresh, and when they're ready, they need to get eaten -- if not by us, then by a lucky visitor -- or daughter!
Our meals are driven by what's ripe that day. When we hit a hot spell, as we have for the past week or so, I make a lot of salad plates. And as it turns out, many of them share more than a passing resemblance to the flowers that the insects dine on. Coincidence? Maybe not...
Swordfish and pasta primavera -- with garden cukes, tomatoes, scallions, beans, and nasturtiums
Tuna and White Bean Salad, with garden lettuce, tomatoes, cukes and beans