Playful Veggies

 
 

Garden bounty is just beginning—the basil is bushy, the beans are blooming, and the zucchini is racing for the fence line. Every evening I have to leaf through the tomatoes to grab anything that looks ready to ripen before the raccoon family makes its nightly rounds (or the squirrels get to work in the morning). I don't have a lot of sunny spots for food growing, but I'm lucky to have generous friends with productive gardens. This cute tomato chick was a gift from one humorous friend, and it got me thinking about creating stories with vegetable animals for my grandsons. I'll have to keep my eyes open at the market this summer to see what shows up—a gourd giraffe, perhaps, or a rutabaga rhinoceros? No reason why grown ups can't play with their food!