Harvesting for Happiness

Yesterday while Jack was napping and the other two were outside planting peas in an old burn pile (or something--I could never be accused of being a helicopter mom), I wandered out with a large colander, a pair of kitchen shears, and a carton to do some harvesting.

First I picked some mulberries, because I like to make sure my hands always look as if I just finished butchering something. Then I used the shears to cut off all the garlic scapes, and while I was in the garden, I harvested some of Cubby's snow peas*.

As I was heading inside, I noticed a single white peony still on the bush and decided it would be much better appreciated inside the house, so I cut that too, along with some roses so the peony wouldn't be lonely in a vase.

Will the roses smell like garlic, or the garlic scapes like roses? An interesting query.

I decided to put the roses and peony on the kitchen table . . .

So bijou**.

But then I needed some flowers for The Long Table, so I cut some of the feral day lilies growing along the edge of the gully. Plus some ferns, because I like to pretend I can create actual arrangements instead of just random flowers in a vase.

The lilies looked nice yesterday, but closed up at night and haven't opened again yet, so the effect is not so good at the moment. So much for my actual arrangements.

Half an hour of picking and snipping, and we had food and pretty flowers. And a mood booster for me. Wins all around.

* I stir-fried these two together for dinner last night and it was really good. Winning combination, should you ever happen to have both in sufficient quantities to try it.

** I learned this word from the movie The Matchmaker with Janeane Garofalo, a movie I loved years ago but haven't seen in about fifteen years. Can't remember anything else about the movie, but that sure is a good word.