FRUIT!

Raspberries are forming . . . WAY more than last year.

I can't believe we have grapes, I feel so Mediterranean!

I actually found a few pink strawberries outside while gardening today; we'll be eating strawberries in May!

I know that this is fairly obvious to all of you seasonal eaters out there, but to those who've never taken a crack at it, one of the bleakest things about winter is the fresh fruit deprivation.  I mean, apples are amazing.  How long they last, for months on end, is amazing.  But one longs for a little variety after a while.

And this family is not too strict.  We buy frozen and shipped fruit over the winter.  We were especially not too strict this past winter, since I had a baby in July (thereby missing the berry and peach storage--except for some strawberries a very pregnant woman managed to freeze).  This winter I hope to be better equipped.  My mother-in-law is hoping to teach me her fig preserve recipes (if they're ripe in time for my July visit to South Carolina) and thinks there might be some pears I could harvest off of a tree on my visit (I can see the battle with my husband as he loads the car for our return trip now).  But I digress . . .

When the rhubarb is full and elephant-leafed in the garden right near a new fig tree, a grape vine actually sporting grapes, strawberries, and black raspberry canes completely covered in raspberries . . . I feel blessed.  When I'm actually eating this fruit, I may be giddy.

Next year I think I'm planting a few gooseberry plants . . .