Spring is almost over, and summer is almost here.

I know this fact is true not only because Wyatt's last day of school is this Friday, but also because the fava beans are done fava-ing. This week, we learned that it's time to plant pumpkins, so we helped chop up the fava stalks, turned over the soil, and planted some pumpkin seedlings.

Volunteering is good to do, right? So we started volunteering this winter. Volunteering in the Presidio Nursery was something tangibly good and family-friendly that we could do regularly in service of our community. The work immediately became something we looked forward to every week. And to be perfectly honest, if it hadn't been fun, we would have stopped going. I have learned that even the most easygoing six-year olds don't suffer drudgery or duty without whining and pouting, and I already have enough drudgery, duty, and six-year old whining and pouting in my life. In the last few months, we've gotten a t-shirt, washed, emptied, and filled pots, weeded, transplanted, pruned, watered, swept, repaired irrigation systems, shelled fava beans, found creatures, and collected seeds from native plants. It would be nice if every weed we pulled, every native plant we saved, and every new friendship we nurtured sent a grain or two of sand flying into the gears of the current federal administration. But resistance comes in many forms, and I'm content to know the work we have done has been good for us and our community.

As our schedule shifts into summer camps and less predictability for the next couple of months, we'll be in the nursery less. But we will fit in some Saturdays, and we plan to get back to more work in the fall.

But between now and fall, there's summer, which is berry season! Yesterday, we picked some raspberries, and we're eyeing our blueberries, waiting for them to ripen. Berry season is the best. Buy or pick organic ones. I'm partial to blueberries and raspberries, but if you find yourself either out of jam or with too many strawberries (either by design or by accident), definitely make some Strawberry Cocoa Jam from Marisa McClellan's book, Naturally Sweet Food In Jars. The jam is unlike any I have ever tasted. It's rich, dark, and frankly incredible.