I'm so excited!

This is not entirely food related, yet it is completely food related. In my efforts to eat more in line with SOLE (Sustainable; Organic; Local; Ethical) principles, and my efforts to fill my apartment with plants (to Danny's dismay), I decided to try to grow a little of my own food. Off I went to the Seeds of Change web site to order some organic seeds. Sadly I did not find organic potting soil. But I planted tomatoes and 3 kinds of squash (tahitian, delicata, and french zucchini that are round!). I forgot that it takes a freaking long time to actually get any food out of this, but I am nearly at the point where I will reap my rewards:

This effort has been fraught with problems. I was under the impression from what I'd read on indoor cultivation that shaking the tomato plants would be enough to pollinate them... yeah, didn't happen. The ones that have set are ones I decided to try pollinating myself.

On the other hand are the squash plants... apparently the zucchini plant is solely male because it has only produced male flowers for literally months. The tahitian squash still just has some really large buds. But here is my pride and joy:

It was the only female bud on the delicata plant and I pollinated and set the fruit just like the old days. I spent a year working in the plant breeding department as a field trial assistant, breeding various squashes, peppers and melons mostly, so I am well versed in how to handle this. There's a new female bud, so hopefully there are more squashies on the way!