pics taken at four different times over the course of two days.
Yesterday I weeded, re-topsoiled, and thoroughly amended a whiskey barrel in which I'll grow beets. I got a mixed variety packet because mixing varieties has led to family favorite side dishes. Today I did the same with two whiskey barrels in which I'll grow carrots and finocchio. J's been in the field a lot doing a second round of rototilling. Tomorrow I'll seed two of the whiskey barrels and plant shallots in a bed he amended with the lobster casting soil conditioner and two bags of top soil. It's late to put them in but I've been as late as the first week in June and still managed to reap a full year's harvest. I find they do pretty well provided the soil's still cold enough to hold the night temperature for at least half the day.
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Today I had a responsibly quick visit with a favorite local friend. Haven't seen her in person for upwards of a two and a half months. The garden-oriented place where she works has set up online shopping and I timed my pick-up around when she was there and free to take five minutes. We spoke of what was good and whole for both of us but also spoke of exhaustion and its many derivations. We laughed. Behind our masks we were both smiling. I brought home thyme, rosemary and the last sage plant in stock. And If I'm honest - this is the first time I've been out in the larger world that I wasn't incredibly saddened by all the many things there are to be saddened about/over in these ever-shifting days. It's pretty much the only time in a bit over two months that I've done something containing a social component as opposed to staying rigorously task-oriented and steeped in the nobody must linger vibe. Lingering for laughter and traded confidences is the part of my former experience I've missed the most and the thing about my personal i-me-mine aspects that leaves me feeling most out of whack.
And so I didn't think/contextualize about anything much - I was just in that moment socializing. The masks didn't matter or in any way infringe on a single one of our combined Liberties & Freedoms. It was sunny and warm enough if we stuck to the sun and the wind wasn't blowing. Also had a chance to suss out the shape of this year's garden there in a different yet utterly familiar garden world. The person who fulfilled my order was worried I didn't know much about plants or I never would have ordered three thymes. My friend was asked to make sure I understood it spread farther and wider the happiest it was. Nobody else could conceive it was true I knew quite a lot about plants and yet ordered 3 Thymes. We laughed and laughed about that (I told you THREE THYMES now she isn't kidding when she says she was raised in a garden) and then pivoted back to our evolving days.
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J also socially distance socialized today and arrived home with four generous bags of well rotted horse manure. His friend has a connection. They had it in the works for a week or so but J didn't want to raise my excitement level before the transaction was complete. This is an invaluable development given all the newly tilled space we have to amend.
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Some of the pictures above were taken yesterday evening. The sun came out just in time to cast that magical glow that steps everything out of time and space itself. The last two pictures were taken yesterday morning about half an hour after it stopped raining. Other pictures are from today in both morning and afternoon.
Tomorrow I'm turning off the heat mats under the plants in the basement. Some, that have had two weeks without under-heating, will be moved upstairs to begin their hardening off process on the top deck. This transition involves getting them situated in their transplant pots tonight and/or tomorrow morning. There's a very beautiful co-creative wind at my back and I'm eternally grateful for that in these unsettled and unsettling times.
Namaste