a new season

 

The ground is showing signs of life again and every year around this time I have gardening fever. I have a hard time putting my attention to other matters. The rich scent of the air, the warmer afternoons, and so many other Spring joys.

This past winter we were in limbo, saying we were getting rid of most of our possessions to make a move to the east coast. We searched, we wanted a change and yet I found myself comparing the places with our little town. It took a very bold conversation from my husband to help me see that we really wanted to stay here.  Yes, I would still like to build a cob house but for now we will now learn slowly with a bench or a garden wall instead of tackling a whole (small) house.

What we do get to do this year, because we are not moving, is garden. This is something I look forward to every year. Not to say I have great success but I always have just a little gift from the year before that I cling to that spurs me to try again.  Some gifts from our garden have been; small pie pumpkins that were tasty and colorful, zucchini to inspire me in the kitchen last fall, onions that were found when tilling  that grew proudly in their new spot, spinach that visited the strawberry patch one year and was only feet away from our kitchen door and was harvested little by little, tomatoes red and juicy hiding from the deer in the grasses that grew up around them and peas that delighted my little girl that she now loves them frozen, fresh from the pod or cooked in a meal.

This year will be more experimenting in ways to keep the deer from eating our hard work, providing the plants what they need like water, nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium and space free from weeds and grasses . I will share our gardening method and plot once we actually get it together. We still have some work to do and the ditches that line most of our property still need to be cleaned because the irrigation will be turned on soon!

For now I cling to the images of ripe tomatoes, fresh basil, kale and spinach to make green smoothies and many other wonderful, tasty treats that will (hopefully) be gracing our table this gardening season.

May you see your garden coming alive in the next few weeks as Spring comes fully alive. 

If you don’t hear from me, you know where I’ll be.