A long, gentle rain over Sunday and Monday has increased the lushness factor of our farm by 50%.  I wanted to give you an extensive farm-tour, but I'm working with one hand tied behind my back with our current camera situation.  (Life without supermacro is tough.)  So, instead, I'll just tell you that the first of the summer vegetables (beans and cucumbers) are up, the rye is ready to be cut, and the perennials are growing like crazy.

The strawberry beds are finally white with blooms, and the first fruits are being set.  Other perennials that already have little berries swelling include nanking cherries, gooseberries, blueberries, and even one of the red currants we planted this spring.

The peaches are bursting out of their faded flower wraps and will soon be big enough to thin.  I can't tell yet whether the apples are hanging onto their fruits this year or not, but I have high hopes.

And it looks like this will be the first year we'll enjoy iris flowers.  Our polyculture of irises with thyme seems to be working pretty well --- the trick will be whether the tall iris leaves start to outcompete the low herb now that they're well-rooted.  This is one of my attempts to include a few more flowers in the garden without feeling the space is entirely wasted.

Finally, the woody plants are starting to yearn for another round of weeding.  This week, I'll be torn between prepping 31 beds for the big frost-free, spring planting on May 15, and getting a head-start on the weedy, woody perennials.  According to Michael Phillips, the trees will be be putting out a new flush of feeder roots soon once they hit a lull in leaf growth, and I definitely want them to be weeded and mulched down again before then.