“Only the pure in heart can
make a good soup”
-Ludwig van Beethoven

Spring is here and that means Farmers Markets are too!

And what’s the perfect vegetable to pick at a Farmers Market in May? I’ll give you a hint – it begins with an “A.” That’s right – Asparagus!  It’s one of the first crops of the season. And it’s got quite a history too.

It takes 3 long years for the first bud to appear, but once it starts asparagus comes back every year for 20. Most plants seed in spring and pucker out of life in Fall. But not our asparagus. These cute green stalks go on and on and on.

It’s considered a perennial vegetable and there’s not many of those out there. Let’s see, there’s Rhubarb, Chives, Horseradish, Artichokes to name just a few of the few. These type vegetables can be extremely valuable to farming landscapes by providing stability to soil erosion among many other healthy things. Heck, as far as I’m concerned asparagus is valuable to any landscape including my own backyard.

Now some of you may be thinking, “I could buy asparagus anytime at the grocery store,” and you sure can. But at different times of the year these green goddesses come from states or countries far-far away. Our local asparagus plays hard to get. It comes to us for only 2 months – May and June and then it’s ‘see you next year.’

When you buy it at the farmers market eat it that day if you can. Not that it can’t last a few more days, but just like fresh bread, it’s always best right out of the oven. You’ll see the difference in the first taste. Fresh is best!

And so in honor of ‘A-spar-a-gus,’ I’m sharing with you a simple 4-syllable breath meditation. It’s a meditation good for the soul and a happy heart.

Here we go…

Place your hands together in prayer position in front of your heart. 

Keeping your hands gently pressed together inhale deeply as you bring your arms straight up over your head.

Exhale as you bring your arms back down saying slowly as you do: “A-spar-a-gus.” 

Hands end in prayer position in front of your heart.

Then again, inhale arms up and exhale slowly down: “A-spar-a-gus.”

Another, inhale up, exhale slowly down: “A-spar-a-gus.”

You got this! Now this may sound silly, so there are other options too…

Like: Cau-li-flow-er

or

Ru-ta-ba-ga

or

Ra-di-cchi-o…cchi there’s just so many!

All these Ve-ge-ta-bles and more you’ll find at your local Far-mers – Mar-ket!

See you there, my friend.