Garden Bounty - Maria Hodkins

I've been eagerly watching the sweet corn I planted the first of June, waiting to pick the first ear and sink my teeth into its sweetness. I created a new raised-bed garden this Spring after tilling up the square of dirt that was the "floor" of my old, dilapidated chicken coop (that we tore down). This is the experimental crop, to test out the state of the soil, and see what will grow. Well, the one ear of corn on the end of the row that I've been intently watching, seemed to grow and swell a couple of inches from yesterday, and I could wait no longer. I gently pulled down the silk, and although the kernels looked small, they looked as though they could be mature enough to eat. So I plucked it! And then, of course, I had to find another similar one so that both my husband and I could have a taste. Meanwhile, I had filled a bowl with the 3rd picking of succulent green beans, and heaped a couple of ripe tomatoes on top. What a garden bounty to bring in for dinner! When I showed my husband, he said, "Well! you'd better paint them before you cook them!"--so I did. The corn, as it turns out, is still a bit too young, and shows as a pale yellow-white, but I wanted to keep the feeling in the sketch accurate to the moment, so I left it as is. It's still beautiful to me! (And delicious, too).

Western Colorado