The sun is out, tomatoes are swelling, it’s a good time to move the office into the garden. A huge straw hat is indispensable, providing plenty of shade. The hat is one I’ve had for nearly forty years. When I was a student in Tokyo, my eccentric landlady gave it to me. The hat does an excellent job shading me, but I have to hold onto something when a stiff breeze kicks up. The hat is so large, a gust of wind could carry me up above the trees.

I’m busy watching the vegetables grow. Watching them grow is really time consuming. A whole afternoon can drift by quickly watching them. Ena 枝那 and Takuma 拓真 are busy being dogs. Funny how being yourself takes up 100% of your time.

Last year I found this variety of arugula with small serrated leaves. I let some go to seed and this year I have it coming up in droves. With a little effort and luck, I’ll get an established bed of this wonderful arugula that will provide arugula for years to come.

A basket of eggs, greens, and herbs is the reward for a day working in the garden.

I can’t complain about the garden help’s enthusiasm. It seems to have no bounds. Happiness is infectious. If you’re trying to avoid catching it, keep happy dogs a long ways off. Their happiness is especially contagious.

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“Anything else?” Takuma 拓真 and Ena 枝那 seem to ask. There is a long list of tasks for them to learn, things like: no digging up the potatoes, no chasing the chickens, bark and chase away the hawks, and on and on. After having them for nearly three weeks, I have no doubt they’ll master their work, and still keep us infected with happiness and laughter.

It’s the beginning of May and there are baby potatoes in the garden. Dust them off, pop them in your mouth, and they are like little crunchy sugar bombs going off in your mouth.

Takuma and Ena aren’t interested in baby potatoes. Rabbits are more their thing. They already ate three today. Maybe not the thing to say on Mother’s Day, but the vegetables are happy the dogs are here. If they could talk, the peas and carrots would scream to the dogs where the rabbits are hiding.

Peonies scream Mother’s Day like no other flower.

This is what you don’t see in your large box store. This is one of the cats at Belfast Feed Store, a local feed store a few miles from us where we get many farm supplies, milk, cream, and honey. He is often on the counter, eager to greet you and let you pet him. This is one reason I avoid the box stores. I’d rather chat with the person who owns the store and say hello to their pets. You can’t do that in stores with tens of thousands of employees.

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