Tuesday, April 17, 2012

First greens of the season

And other Tuesday stream of consciousness ramblings.
Today I harvested spinach for salads.  Woo Hoo!!  Ok, I'll admit, there wasn't much of it and I combined it with some lettuce that I had purchased to have enough for our salads- but we had the first greens of the season from the garden.  I also used a walking onion so we had two things from the garden.  For us, having anything harvested in mid April is amazing.  Normally, this would be the time of year when I would be just starting to plant my early stuff.  But I've got spinach to harvest, the peas are up and I've got lettuce and little kohlrabi up out in the garden as well.  What a bizarre year.
I'm hoping that the soil dries up enough that I can work up the rest of the garden soon.  I've got lots and lots of little lambs quarters plants out there and, while I want to harvest some, I also want to till them back into the soil.  I also want to get my little broccoli plants and cabbage planted out soon but the soil is still a bit too wet after the nearly three inches of rain that we got over the weekend.  I did manage to get the onions weeded.  My goal for this gardening season is to work out in the garden for at least an hour a day after work unless it is raining.  Hopefully that way I can keep a better handle on the weeds this year. If it isn't raining tomorrow I'm going to try to dig the new beds by barn and chicken coop... or start laying out my herb spiral.

In sewing news.  J17 has asked for a quilt to take with her to college.  She wants a 'not quite twin sized' quilt for her bed.  She wants a steampunk theme with an airship.  So... I was working on the design for a central applique. If it's raining tomorrow after dinner maybe I'll try to 'sandwich' the celtic knot quilt so I can start the quilting process and get that out of the way before I start on something new.

Otherwise, I was back at work today after a 5 day break.  It was a busy day trying to get to know all the new patients who have come in while I've been off.  Work is always much more mentally draining than the physically draining work at home and it's a different kind of tired.  So it was nice to get out in the garden and weed.  I'm still working on this 'balance' thing. Maybe someday I'll figure it out.

8 comments:

  1. Ah yes, the old Happy Medium! So elusive, but so desired.

    It's true that emotional/mental stress and strain will wipe you out faster and more totally than actually doing hard, physical labor all day.

    Getting in bed at night after a day's physical work, you stretch out and think, "Every single part of my body feels beat up." And then CLUNK, you're out like a light. After a day's emotional turmoil, you get into bed and say, "I am absolutely, utterly exhausted." Then you toss and turn for a couple of hours trying to shut off your mind so you can get some much needed sleep. And we all know how much "good" sleep and "bad" dreams we experience on a night like that! Give me a shovel and dirt any day, thank you very much. Too bad we can't always have it that way though, isn't it? Back to seeking the Happy Medium that enables us to remain sane. (Well, mostly.)

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    1. The Happy Medium is still elusive in my life.... It's funny that I even try to achieve it. I frequently tell my patients that true balance is a myth. I use the comparison to life being like the guy at the circus who spins plates on sticks: the plate isn't really balanced, it is just continually falling off in a different direction and somehow it works. Life is like that.

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  2. Wow! That is great that you have veggies to harvest already. I love eating fresh from the garden. I don't think anyone has planted here yet.

    What is Steampunk?

    And I'd take shovel and dirt any day too. Can't wait to get some things planted. We have frost on everything right now. Weird.

    Have a great day. Take care, Janet W

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    1. Normally I wouldn't have planted anything here either but I put in a little bit of a few things when it warmed up so early on the chance that they would survive. Looks like it paid off.
      And Steampunk- where to begin... it started in literature and has escaped into pop culture. It is a wonderful blend of fantasy, science fiction and alternate reality. Imagine the Victorian age with advanced steam technology living in the wild west... pirates in airships (hot air balloons). It's a lot of fun.

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  3. I had my fingers in the dirt today if only for a little water cress on the deck,my tomatoes will come later with a little help from mother nature in the form of warmth

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    1. Isn't it a wonderful thing to get your fingers in the dirt? Honestly, some people don't know what they're missing!!

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  4. Congrats on that spinach! I can't wait to see the quilt develop this year!

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    1. I've got the sketch for the central panel and now the fabric is on the way. It should be fun! I've never done an applique panel this big.

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