However, my friend Beth posted a picture of her hand lifting dirt out of a bag to be placed into seed pots, and it looked good. Really, really good. A few facebook messages later and I was on my way to her house after work in order to pick up her extra. We talked gardening for a bit, and she gave me some hints and tips. She saved her own seeds last year, and I think I might give it a try this year. We'll be exchanging seedlings if they're successful and we have too many, and also the fruits of our labor (literally!). This is how you do it people. We only survive if we cooperate!
As I drove home in the snow, I felt better. I was practically giddy when I got home. I had dirt and I wasn't afraid to use it! After shoveling snow and some coffee, I have liberated some clay pots from the deck, and they are now sitting on the dining room table, melting a bit. Once it gets melted, I plan to dump it outside, and then get started. There's a corner of the dining room where a TV tray (or two) can be set up and they can sit there. It's a bit cool, but they can also get a lot of sunshine there.
Despite my hatred of shoveling, I have come to love winter. Truly proper winter, with snow. Not the endless bare and dry and bleak, or worse, ice upon ice. Winter is hues of blue to me: The bright blue of a frigid clear sky; the deep blue of cloudless night with icy stars; the barely-there blue of piles of snow, which deepens as the sun sets, and fades as it rises.
Once inside, the smell of the jambalaya that had been simmering in the crock pot all morning (with my own tomatoes!), but I dutifully went to get the pots from under the table outside. Some of them were frozen together and some had snow and ice inside that was not going to just come right out. They are currently thawing on the dining room table, as I said. I am thinking of starting cucumbers, zucchini, and squash. I will have to see what packets of seeds are still left.
I thought I'd also share pictures of the Back Forty Feet:
Ironically, this was taken I think two days after my declaration of an early Imbolc. Mother Nature has a wonderful sense of humor. I had planned to get close-ups, but changed my mind. There are actually five beds in the shot. There's a long pallet that's the left-most rectangle, which has strawberries which, last I could see, still had green leaves on them. Directly next to that (I guess at kind of a downward angle) is a regular square pallet. Last year it had two tomato plants and some muskmelon, that was gifted to me. The muskmelon blossomed but no fruit. The tomatoes did well. This year it has my lettuce seeds. Another gardener friend was doubtful that they'd sprout, since they were only covered with dirt, and now snow. But, I figure they managed to survive growing kind of like that for millennia before we came along, so we'll just wait and see.
Above those (toward the back of the yard) are the three built beds. The farthest one in the back was the first one. Last year it had potatoes and onions, and then lettuce after that. The lower left one was tomatoes and bell peppers and the one to the right had beans, zucchini, squash, and failed cucumbers. They grew and vined and blossomed, but no fruit.
In the back corner are the raspberries. Yes, you can also see the compost bin I still haven't quite figured out, and then the wheelbarrow that "someone" left out. It has the remains of our topsoil from last year in it. You can also see our fire pit and altar/bench/table (it serves many purposes).
This be the small herb portion on the deck. Dead basil, and possibly not-so-dead rosemary and lavender. The two smaller pots are the ones I got to put parsley and dill in for the caterpillers I found. Next year, we have plans for a butterfly garden, and the parsley and dill will go in there..
Not seen on your tour here: apple tree that I was told wouldn't produce apples, but happily does, and the totally out of control mint plant.
Now I am eating the aforementioned jambalaya (which could be spicier), the spouse is home, the electric fireplace is on and I'm getting ready for the next week at school. More snow is being called for
