Preparing lunch meant a trip to my grocery store for vine-ripened tomatoes and some chard. There are no fluorescent lights, no other customers, no music, no cash registerers dinging. This is where I go to get much of my produce, straight from the source.

And I can’t help but admire the beauty of budding tomato leaves, or the artful curve a growing squash makes. Look at the intricate design on the squash. It would take someone hours and hours to paint that, and yet a squash skillfully adorns its skin without a thought.

But what was a welcome surprise were the flower buds on the purple pod bean plant. Such vibrant colors. In a few days the bean vines will be loaded with these tiny dancing purple flowers. You miss so much of the beauty of how food grows when you only see the final product in your grocer or in a can on the shelf. Half the joy of eating a bean is watching it bloom.