Spring time for many of us means gardening time. The hours spent outside planning and planting, digging, pruning and moving plants, enriching the soil in vegetable beds, the garden center visits, and the wonderful weather leaves us wanting to spend little time indoors and even less in the kitchen. I love this time of the year and look forward to planting new perennials and growing some annuals - vegetables and flowers- in my garden. While I have success with the flowers, the vegetables are such a hit and miss!! I tell myself each year that I will not plant anything else in my vegetable patch other than tomatoes, but find my resolve slipping away as soon as I see the vegetable saplings.  So this year I have cucumber, green chilly, jalapeno, red and green peppers, beans, eggplant and of course my favorite tomatoes planted. Am doing all the needful steps to ensure a bountiful crop- right from raking and enriching the soil in the vegetable beds prior to planting, feeding nourishment, watering regularly and putting in support posts for the creepers to latch on to. The results are anxiously awaited. This year I have done an extra step- put in forks upside down to deter the pesky squirrels. 

The flowers are a visual delight though- they are blooming and give my garden the look of a 3D watercolor painting (In my biased opinion). The colorful butterflies, birds with their birdsong, the squirrels, chipmunks, hares and the (not at all welcome) raccoons and skunks makes it a constantly evolving one at that. It is hard to pull myself away from all this to go indoors for chores and such. 

Cooking takes a backseat during this time. Marinating and barbecuing meats and vegetables and ordering take outs is done like never before. Salads and quick fix-it meals are the order of the day. In my quest to cut down on kitchen time and eat more variety of foods, I came across a Home Baker kids activity kit and was very impressed with how smooth the entire process was- the ingredients come measured and so there’s no wastage or time spent buying all the items needed, prepping and measuring out, the steps are easy to follow and precise and hey presto- you are eating something new that you have made in your own kitchen. In fact it makes for a very good gift idea, for all age groups, especially in current Covid times when you don’t want to go into stores to look for gifts. I sent Home Baker donut kits to my young nephews to encourage them to try their hands at cooking and they loved it. 

So here’s a shout out to the Home Baker team- Well done!!! I was so impressed- it’s a great gift idea for young bakers to embark on their culinary journey, strengthen skills and encourage learning with both scientific endeavors and creative arts getting a successful and yummy kickstart in the right direction. Cooking is, after all, a blend of science and art!! Thank you Home Baker for the wonderful gifting ideas you provide. I had a good time reading the fun facts on your boxes. 

And now I go back into my garden to shoo those pesky squirrels away as they go about digging up my lawn and vegetable boxes.