The Sweet Taste of Spring

                                                 The Sweet Taste of Spring

 

            by Kim Diaz

     

     I’m a summer girl at heart.  I love the freedom and spontaneity of road trips and camping with the kids, long days spent on the beach, toes in the sand and little clothing.  I love the heat and the watersports.  Summer is really my season.  For years, I lived the Endless Summer lifestyle, spending my winters sea kayaking the coasts of Baja California, Mexico and scuba diving the islands of the Caribbean.  And then I had kids.  And I felt the need to live closer to my parents.  So we moved our little family from the island of Utila, off the Coast of Honduras, to a small town on the Chesapeake Bay in Virginia.

     My children were both Spring babies.  My daughter, Oceana’s birthday is in mid April, just when the buds on the trees are bursting, and the daffodils and wild violets bring color and promise of the warmer days to come.  My son, River’s birthday is at the end of May, when all is green and alive, and the days are longer, and summer is just about to settle in.  Spring is a time of new life.

     My children were little when we got our first baby animals.  That first Spring in our own house, we got a couple of baby guinea pigs.  The second year, we got baby chicks.  We raised them in a cage in the kitchen from day old fluff balls, until they were old enough to move outside to the coop my husband built in the back yard.  Chickens make great pets.  They all have names and personalities.  They don’t mind being picked up and carried around the yard by my kids, and they lay beautiful eggs for us daily.   Every year in spring we get a few new baby chicks to add to our small backyard flock.  Spring is the season of nurturing.

     Every spring since we moved to Virginia, we plant an organic vegetable garden.  Prepping the soil, sowing the seeds, nurturing them tenderly until the warm sun coaxes them grow and flourish and provide us with food.  Right now we have lettuces, swiss chard, spinach, and kale, still small, but we harvest their young leaves for salads and smoothies.  We also have the return of strawberries and raspberries, a peach tree and a pear tree.  Every year in early spring, we wait for the flower buds that promise the return of fruit. 

     This time of year also kicks off the start of our local Farmers Markets.  Every Saturday we go in search of local, fresh vegetables and fruits that look and taste so much richer and more natural than the grocery store varieties we’ve been consuming all winter.  We fill our shopping bags with jars of local honey and fresh herbs and whatever vegetables are in season, but not growing in our own garden, like asparagus or greenhouse grown greens.

     Spring is the season of eating fresh!  I try to incorporate greens into every meal!  Green smoothie for breakfast, spinach salad for lunch.  And enjoy them while they last!  For once the heat of summer kicks in, they won’t grow as prolifically as they do now.  But by then we’ll be up to our elbows in summer squash, cucumbers, and corn and watermelon on the beach. 

     Funny, I’ve always thought of myself as a summer girl, but I’d say Spring comes in at a close second.  Enjoy this Spring season of life!  Get outside and breathe.  Be inspired!  Plant a garden!  Try a new recipe.  Get some chicks!  Eat fresh, seasonal and local.  Nurture yourself.  Start something new.  Now is the time!