It's all about the salad.

These photos can be either inspiring or discouraging, depending on whether you’ve planted your vegetables yet.

If you’ve got a few plants in pots, then rejoice! The lettuce in the colander is my first harvest. I planted several Black Seeded Simpson lettuces about a month ago, and the salads have been wonderful. It’s a small but significant start, especially for a procrastinator like me.

The other photo is of the beautiful veggies from my CSA share for helping with Downing Hollow Farm’s city garden: micro greens, spring lettuce, radishes, assorted herbs (parsley, cilantro, mint), spring onions, carrots, tomatoes, and shitake mushrooms. I also got six farm fresh eggs!

I like to look at this photo as my goal for next summer. Then again, maybe there’s even bigger start-ups in my future. Here’s a great story from Victoria, who understands that a cottage industry in my backyard is my ultimate retirement job.