Camera-ready and plate-perfect: New crops thrill documentary-makers and local chef

It was partly cloudy this morning, and the cucumbers were going wild (actually, better than wild)

Filmmakers from the Florida Department of Agriculture arrived early and will be here all week, preparing a documentary for the Commissioner's Environmental Leadership Award (to be presented this fall to a select group of businesspersons, including Robert Tornello)

And today, as always, we were greeted by pretty lettuces all in a row...

...which Chef Jason Cline of Tampa restaurant Bin 27 couldn't resist. He and Robert were talking salad ideas as he gathered the evening's offerings (our first customer!)

Mama loves looking at the flowers, like this delicate lavender eggplant blossom; the boys want to know when Nana can make some Melanzane alla parmigiana.

Ready for its closeup: just one of the scores of luscious butterhead lettuces we're harvesting today.

Red and green leaf-lettuces flourish in their nutrient channels.