Saturday, October 25, 2008

Where to start?

Its been so long since I've blogged that I'm not sure where to start. We've had an illness that kept me occupied and lots of crafting. Hrmm, do I craft or do I blog about crafting? I do like to journal about what I'm doing, but when time gets pinched too thin, the blogging gets the short stick, unfortunately.


Going to town

I've made slow progress on the garden. When I put it that way it doesn't sound too great. But when I saw I've made slow PROGRESS on the garden, well, that sounds much nicer. I'm still trying to get four garden beds in order - that means all lined with hardware cloth to keep gophers our and then put in drip irrigation (currently on overhead sprinkler) and then plant a cover crop (probably, fava beans). And that will probably take several more months at my current rate. But I'm ok with that since progress tends to be made in fits and starts. I got two beds planted with veggies this year. The first one did well despite the fact that I crammed everyone and their sister into it. We harvested some very fine potatoes from it. Beautiful, almost iridescent purple potatoes. We shared the harvest with friends and it was delicious.


Purple Potatoes

However, the second bed despite being planted with cabbage, chard, spinach, lettuce and cilantro, I've decided to call a moratorium on harvesting from it. Why? I was getting frustrated with protecting it - protecting it from squirrels digging it up, caterpillars devouring the cabbage, the dog meandering through and little toddler hands full of good intentions "replanting" all the seedlings, not to mention the regular weeding and fertilizing that needed to happen. So I'm going to revisit the plot next year when said toddler is a little older and I get some sort of above ground varmint protection put it.


Sunshine

It actually feels quite good to reach this decision. I started the garden over a year ago and progress has been slow but measurable. However, I was starting to feel the pressure to keep things maintained and to keep food coming in. The pressure to not fail, but still fearing the caterpillar and the dog messing everything up! But the wonderful thing that has happened to me since becoming a mother is the ability to not be such a perfectionist. I love knowing that I can say, "ok, enough for this season" and then knowing that I'll pick up right where I left off (minus that pile of weeds that's accumulated) in January (or February or March). Its amazing how you can give something up (paralyzing perfectionism) and in the process somehow get ahead (in the long view).

Going to seed

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