It's a beautiful day...

in the neighborhood.  Forgive the cliche, but it really is.  After almost two weeks straight of rain the sun is shining, the birds are singing, and the neighbor's rooster is crowing.  And the veggie plants are all outside enjoying the sunshine, too.  Here are some of the tomatoes:

and some of the broccoli, cucumbers, cabbage, and marigolds (in the white cups in back):

 I keep reading about how marigolds are great for keeping the "bad bugs" away, so we are starting a bunch of them and plan to plant them all through the garden.  You can't tell, but they are up.  Some of these indoor starts are beginning to look a little leggy and I was getting concerned about them.  Hopefully, getting them out into the natural sun will help them get stronger. 

The first potato plant has poked it's head out of the dirt, too:

it doesn't look like much yet but, trust me, those two little bunches of green leaves in the middle of the picture are potato plants.   Still no beans yet, but the radishes are looking awesome!

Now I'm off to do the grocery shopping and get milk.  Yup, two separate things.  We get our milk up the road from an organic dairy farm:  http://www.franklinfarmstore.com/index.html

The smaller building is the farm store (I borrowed the photo from their website with their kind permission) which is open 24/7.  They are such nice people.   From the consumer's side of things, I can say how much I appreciate knowing the person who grows my food.  Occasionally, when I go to get milk, one of the Franklins is in or near the store and we get a chance to chat a little.  We trust these people and that's why we get our milk there ~ we know they have integrity and that they make sure to provide us with the best products possible.  We are lucky, and grateful for all the hard work they do.  Check out their website ~ it's a diversified farm and they've got a lot going on.