Garden Group

If you could have peeked into my house yesterday afternoon, this is what you would have seen.

Four women, two of them pregnant, sitting around the table, catalogs and packages strewn about between tea cups and plates with scones and cookies. A tall pitcher of ice cold sparkling water glinted in the sunlight as pieces of orange floated around ice cubes, while all four talked at once, laughing and telling stories.

No. It wasn't a baby shower.

It was our February Garden Group meeting.

And the catalogs and packages were of the seed variety.

I've written many times about the ladies that make up my Garden Group. They're, as a whole, sweet, funny, smart and amazingly good cooks. Our skill levels are varied, our primary interests virtually the same - to grow and preserve our own food.

And not to disillusion any newcomers who have not yet learned the truth, I'm not one of the skilled gardeners. If a good gardener has a green thumb, mine is kind of brown-ish. Some things grow. A lot of things die. But I keep trying.

It's either an exercise in perseverance or a recipe for insanity.

So we sat, we chatted, we plotted, we schemed, we combined orders and we decided that this year's motto is Keep It Seriously Simple.

We looked through the catalogues, and were seduced by Siamese Thai Basil or Amish Paste Tomatoes. We looked at each other, not quite meeting eyes as Rainbow Eggplant and Sumter Pickling Cucumbers beckoned. And then, just when all hope was lost, we got back to business and kept it simple.

Now, we just have tomato sales to get through.

And, for the record, the scones in the picture? Not homemade. Trader Joe's. Likewise the inside out carrot cake, which, I was told, was divine.