Monday mumbles

It was a good weekend, quiet in a lovely way. On Friday night we headed to see BobCat Bob at C&P, and again felt our good fortune at living where we do. On Saturday we again went to C&P - I hadn't been there in weeks and it was great to hang out - and laughed over the crossword puzzle, talked to friends, and drank buckets of coffee. Then it was gardening time, and we gardenend until we were hobbled. We did take-out for dinner - the first time in a long time - and got Buddha Ruksa Thai food, which was delicious. Sunday Ryan went for a ride while I did a few chores and Tessa did art, and then we all went to church where we got to hear Jim Scott (the composer of serveral UU hymns that I already knew) preach and play guitar and sing. Farmer's Market, more gardening, and then Michele, Dave, and kiddos for dinner.

See? A good weekend.

At the Farmer's Market they had organic starts, and I bought a little flat of veggies. It made me happy just to see them there - so exciting, because it means that spring really is here. I bought (and planted) three kinds of lettuce (12 plants total), two kinds of chard, yellow onions, cabbage, spinach (from seeds), fava beans (seeds), sugar snap peas (seeds), leeks and parsley (last year's parsley seeds didn't get past the slugs; I'm hoping that by doing starts this early, before the slugs really get going, they'll be thriving by warm slug season). These are all cool weather crops, and the entire side garden (last year's garden bed) is full! (There were already strawberries, raspberries, and garlic planted.) It' hard to believe that we've already put in the equivalent of last year's crop, and we've barely gotten started. Next weekend I have plans to put in potatoes in the back yard's raised bed, and if we can work through some of the soil from the new bed then I'm dying to get carrots in. (I actually would like to have a huge carrot section - some of them can overwinter and we eat tons of carrots, so they wouldn't go to waste; plus, they are the perfect children's vegetable, and all the kids who come over just love picking and then eating them).

Ryan has dug up about a quarter of our front lawn - I think of the section he's finished with as the tomato section, because it's the section with the least amount of shade and tomatoes love and need heat.

When I planned the garden in my head, it seemed like it was going to be so large that I could plant whatever I wanted. If only that were the case! Despite its growth, I'm going to have to be judicious in what I plant, because space IS limited. Fortunately, with what I'm learning about crop rotation, I can do some spring crops and then some fall crops in the same place in the garden, doubling the output....

So I'm happily puttering along. Frugal (well, there are start-up costs but in the end it definitely works out to our favor), very green, very healthy. I have aches and pains like I can't believe today but I'm proud of them because they mean I've been working my muscles, and I won't complain if I get some toning out of this.

Today is writing day. Tessa will be at school and then has a playdate, so I'll even get a chance to get in some exercise. Ahhhh.

And on that - I'm off! Time for the morning rush.