Meghan Markle has left people baffled after sharing a wholesome picture of her morning ‘garden haul’.
The Duchess of Sussex, 43, last night posted a sweet image of her and Prince Harry’s beagle Mia sniffing a basket of fresh produce grown in the garden of her Montecito mansion in California.
Referring to Mia, who the Sussexes rescued in 2022, Meghan captioned her post: ‘The unofficial quality inspector of this morning’s garden haul.’
The ‘haul’ comprised of broccoli, carrots, corn, red peppers and squash as well as spring onions and an assortment of fresh herbs as Mia buried her face in the produce.
But not everyone was convinced, and people soon pointed out inconsistencies with the Instagram-perfect picture.
Taking note of the squeaky-clean vegetables, fans noted there wasn’t even a ‘speck of dirt’, despite appearing to be freshly picked, while others noted that, in California, May could be too early in the year to harvest several crops.
Others speculated that Meghan could have gone to a local supermarket or Farmer’s Market instead.
Baffled, fans wrote: ‘Huh. She’s so good at gardening she can grow all things from all seasons at once’;
‘And everything is perfectly clean. She is also the only person outside of the US Cornbelt to harvest corn in MAY?’;
‘The only place I see all that in season is the grocery store produce section’;
‘It’s way too early in the season for most of those vegetables to be grown in her garden and ready to pick’;
‘“This morning’s garden haul.” In California, bell peppers are in season from May through November. Yellow squash is June through August. Broccoli is October through April. Carrots can be grown year round. Fennel is October through early spring’;
‘Who is harvesting corn in May? It’s pretty early for squash and peppers too’;
‘I’ve never seen vegetables so clean after harvesting’;
‘No dirt?’
According to the California Farmland Trust, sweetcorn is typically harvested from June to September – meaning it’s likely slightly too early for Meghan to have grown her own at her home in Montecito, near Santa Barbara.
By contrast, broccoli is harvested much earlier in the year, according to the Vegetable Research and Information Centre.
Spring onions, bell peppers, carrots and certain types of squash may now be ripe for harvesting.
The latest post on As Ever’s social media page comes one day after Meghan revealed she plans to ‘step back to assess’ what the lifestyle brand had achieved in its first year – and what it could become in the future.
Meghan, who unveiled the company at the start of the year, recently revealed she may never restock her famous jam – one of the many homely products she sold under the As Ever brand – in an interview with The Fast Company.
The Duchess was speaking about her business and balancing work with motherhood as the first series of her podcast, Confessions of a Female Founder, drew to a close yesterday.
Asked about As Ever, Meghan said she would ‘step back, gather data from the launch, and figure out exactly what’ the company’s future holds – as she confirmed new products won’t go live until the first quarter of 2026.
Meghan also revealed the surprising turn As Ever could take – hinting at a future step into the fashion industry that she deemed an ‘interesting space for me’.
The inaugural run of As Ever products, such as jams, honey and teas, sold out within 45 minutes of the launch.
Her previous store sold out in 45 minutes and contained homely items as well as her long-awaited pots of jam.
Meghan and Harry’s rescue, beagle Mia, was first seen in the family’s Christmas card last December.
Among six pictures included in the festive greetings card was one which featured the Sussexes with their two children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, as well as their rescue dogs including Mia, beloved beagle Guy – who passed away earlier this year – and their labrador Pula.
Nine-year-old Mia was rescued by the couple from an animal testing centre in 2022
The pup was one of 4,000 dogs bred for Envigo breeding and research facility in Virginia. Mia had arrived at the rescue centre having just given birth to eight puppies.
The dogs had been bred for pharmaceutical and biotech research – but inspections of the centre had found dozens of violations of federal law over a two year period.
Animal lover Meghan has adopted a number of rescue dogs over the past few years and brought her American rescue beagle Guy to the UK when she married Harry.
Also in the picture was the couple’s black Lab, Pula, who was introduced to the family ahead of Archie’s birth in 2019.
The pooch’s unique name is the currency in Botswana, a country the couple visited in the early days of their relationship.
Though not included in their greetings card, the Sussexes also own several rescue chickens, who live with them at their $14m, seven-acre mansion in Montecito, California.
Meghan’s latest As Ever post comes one day after the Duchess released the eighth and final episode of her podcast, Confessions of a Female Founder, featuring Spanx entrepreneur Sara Blakely.
Promoting the podcast and As Ever, Meghan told The Fast Company that she wouldn’t know ‘what to call herself’ if she had to write a resume.
She said: ‘If I had to write a résumé, I don’t know what I would call myself.
‘I think it speaks to this chapter many of us find ourselves in, where none of us are one note. But I believe all the notes I am playing are part of the same song.’
Meghan added that the ‘mom moments’ push her to success in the business world, with plans in the future ranging from home goods to fashion.
Revealing her son Archie has begun to lose his teeth, she described becoming the tooth fairy and leaving coins and a little dinosaur underneath his pillow.
She said: ‘I had a lot of business meetings the next morning, but I still chose to cuddle with him the rest of the night. Those mom moments energise me to be a better founder, a better employer, a better boss.’