Our yard has a sandbox, a slide, bikes, and a bin full of toys, but today the neighborhood kids were only interested in the garden.

Finally got the garden in, or at least the seeds. I had a lot of help from the household’s little people, who were eager to drop in seeds for carrots and radishes, cucumbers and kale, lettuce and spinach. We planted 8 square feet in all, neatly cordoned off by Mr. H. into a grid that would make Mel Bartholomew (of square foot gardening fame) proud. This is the tidiest the bed will look all season, probably all year.

One of the things I love about gardening is how impossibly small the seeds are to begin. They even look tiny in the hand of my four-year-old. How could these little flecks ever grow up into carrots? I guess the same way my soft baby girls are turning into big kids with snaggly toenails and split ends and mood swings, wearing headphones around the house and singing Adele.

Time passes, and if we’re lucky, it changes us. We just need sunshine, water and a little space to grow. No need to worry if things look a bit messy at times.

Sometimes I feel like a member of a CSA cult. Like when a friend asked if she could interview me for an article she was writing about choosing a CSA, and I talked her ear off for an hour, when really all she needed was a quote or two.

I guess we CSA people are funny that way, it’s just that we talk about leafy green things instead of heaven.

I don’t mean to imply that the rapture is imminent or anything, but come on folks, the farm season doesn’t wait forever. It is coming! In fact, if you want a spot at the prime pick-up location for my CSA, too bad — we’re full.

Maybe you’re procrastinating because you’re really not ready to let a CSA into your life. You’d rather wait and make the call after they’re all full, so that you can shrug your shoulders while you wait in line at the farmers’ market and say that you tried but didn’t get your act together in time.

But if you are thinking that this is the year when you will join, then I recommend reading the advice in “One Thing New.” It’s much shorter than any religious pamphlet, and the results taste better too.

Can I just leave you with some imagery of last year’s first haul?

I’ve been baking again. I can’t help it. There’s just enough chill in the air that I want to fill the house with warm deliciousness. The good news is, I’ve been modifying old favorites, and can report that a better-for-you version of my mother’s banana bread has been a huge hit.

The original version wasn’t terrible, but it was high in sugar — 40 grams of carbs in 1/12th of the loaf, and very little protein (3.5 grams). By reducing the amount of sugar, substituting soy flour and wheat germ for some of the semolina flour, and loading it with chopped walnuts, I’ve lowered the carbs to 30 grams for a hearty serving and tripled the protein. I probably should have used some sort of margarine stick, but I just couldn’t help myself and used genuine butter. Mother would approve.

Ingredients

• 2/3 c. sugar
• 1/4 c. butter, softened
• 3 bananas, mashed
• 2 eggs, unbeaten
• 1 1/4 c. flour
• 3/4 c. soy flour combined with a little wheat germ
• 1 t. baking soda dissolved in…
• 3 T. sour milk
• 1 t. salt
• 2 c. chopped walnuts

To make the sour milk, add a little vinegar to a small cup of milk, and set aside for 30 minutes to an hour. It should become lumpy.

Cream together the sugar and butter in a large bowl. Measure the sour milk into a small bowl, and add the baking soda. Begin adding the rest of the ingredients, and mix well. The milk and baking soda combination should become frothy and slightly stiff — I like to pour it in last, right before the walnuts, which should be mixed in at the very end.

To measure the soy flour and wheat germ, I use a 3/4 measuring cup, and fill it about a quarter of the way full, then top it off with soy flour.

Put the batter in a greased loaf pan. Cook at 350 F for about an hour, until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

For the first day of spring, a poem by my husband, with apologies to Lewis Carroll… 

Twas summer and the tasty veg,
Did grow and ripen in the field.
All yummy were the potatoes,
And organic was the yield.

“Join the CSA, my son,
The farm that feeds, with seeds and plow!
But sign up soon,” he said,
“The local farmer needs you now!”

And so, with NPR tote in hand,
Long time the CSA he sought.
So, rested he ‘neath the apple tree,
And stood while in thought.

And, as in hungry thoughts he stood,
The local farmer, his basket heaping,
Came delivering the monthly share
With a harvest fresh from reaping!

A pound or two of berries blue,
The handy scale went clicky clack.
He took his share of bounty fair,
And went galumphing back.

“And hast thou joined the CSA, my son?
Come to the table, my hungry boy!
Oh, kale and chard and arugula!”
He chortled in his joy!

Twas fall and still the tasty veg,
Did grow and ripen in the field.
All yummy were the potatoes,
And organic was the yield.

- Edward Hunter

For any peeps out there in north Jersey — I’m helping organize a FREE movie screening of “What’s On Your Plate,” a documentary film in which two 11-year-olds explore the food systems in the New York area. It’s this Sunday at 12:15 p.m. Details on Patch if you’re interested — http://montclair.patch.com/events/family-friendly-movie-screening-and-potluck. (Update: The movie was screened on Sunday, March 18.)