Things I Learned About Life from My Garden

#1: Don't ever expect anything. That way everything you get is a happy surprise!

#2: Do as much as you can with the bounty Mother Nature gives you. Be creative and don't waste a thing...unless it's really rotten.

#3: Sometimes starting from scratch (the hard way) is not the better way of yielding results.

Not that I planned on becoming philosophical but I couldn't resist. I wanted to write about the results from our garden, especially after a weird dinner experience last night. However, I decided to add to it and compare the rules of the veggie garden to life lessons.

We've enjoyed some delicious harvests for our first crack at a garden started in less-than-ideal soil. We have feasted on lettuces, abundant squash and zucchini, squash blossoms, tomatoes and jalepenos. Even some herbs added spice to our summer life. Other things, could have been better such as our beautiful looking eggplant.

To the eye, the purple and while flecked vegetable was perfect. It was finally sliced and sauteed for dinner last night. I prepared: Cast-iron skillet cooked chicken breast with chopped onion and garlic powder. Then I covered the thin breasts with thinly sliced fresh tomato, oregano and shredded cheese and continued to cook in the oven until the tomatoes were roasted and infused with the chicken along with the melted goodness. I placed these over sauteed eggplant, which would have been delicious due to the Italian seasonings I added, however the immense amount of seeds outweighed the meat of the vegetable. I'm not sure if we left them out too long or not long enough on the vine but it was disappointing to say the least.

An unexpected surprise were our tomatoes. They are proof that you should not "judge a book by its cover." They were small and didn't even seem a ripened red but for the past three weeks, I have been completely obsessed with eating these flavorful little guys with everything. I slice, dice and chop them and all of our meals include some tomato.

Herbs: Our most utilized herbs were our chives and cilantro. The basil never grew to potential and I never jumped on any recipes including mint. Next year, the location of our herb garden will be re-assessed for sure as the porch environment didn't seem to agree with them as their life span was short and sweet.

I hope some of you can relate to some garden-life lessons. Signing off for now to enjoy this gorgeous fall-like day!