Happy Sunday morning friends. I hope all is well with you. I really am enjoying not stressing about how many seedlings I have started, when they were started and when they need to get into the ground for the earliest bloom time….but there are a few things I’m regretting….

I finally got around to weeding raised bed number 3. Holy smokes, it was like I was ripping out sod from the lawn, Obviously, I failed to take care of it….I’m not sure I weeded it at all last year…..or maybe I just didn’t do anything with it in the fall…? Sadly the daffodils coming up in it are tiny and a bit wimpy….maybe because it was so compacted with grass? It’s weeded now, but there is about an inch of the daffodil that is now exposed that wasn’t exposed before, and I didn’t have time to add dirt to it yesterday, so hopefully they will be okay until I add dirt this morning before we leave for our little adventure today with Bruce and Jill. It took a lot of work, but it’s finished, and hopefully I will be able to take care of it this year to avoid that situation. I did find some rotten, smooshy bulbs in there, which would explain the lack of daffodils coming up. Mother Nature is teaching me that perhaps our property just isn’t made for things I wish it could do. There are limitations….but the only way I will find out what they are is by trying things….then I have to accept them. I’ve accepted that we don’t get to grow tulips – sad but true….I haven’t tried growing them in pots yet, maybe I will try that next year?

I did find & trim 8 Maximilliam Sunflower colonies that are coming back from last year. I’m not going to lie, I’m excited they are coming back. My plan of them coming up on the far side of the garden is going to work out great. We can let that go back into lawn and just have the strip of happy sunflower bushes dancing in the wind.

My other regret is turning that strip next to the driveway into garden – or should I saying attempting to turn that strip into garden. It’s cantankerous ground, which Joe warned me about, but I still wanted to try. It grew stuff, it was fine, but now I want to turn it back into lawn – which is turning into a project. It will all come together in time, but holy smokes, the huge pile of sunflowers I made at the end of the season last year is proving to be very woody, I’m hoping Joe isn’t too annoyed that there’s woody bits and pieces in an area where he will be mowing by the end of the summer. I will continue to work on it and get things picked up, and it will continue to break down and make some nice soil for us. Little bits and pieces there and there.

However, now that the plans for the focal point are on hold, I need to figure out what I’m going to do with the items I thought I was going to put in that space. I guess my dahlia tubers can go into the raised beds and the climbing vines I started can go on the arch way that hasn’t been utilized the last three years. The first year we put it in, it didn’t do what I wanted it to do…well, it did just fine, but not the gourds we put next to it or the beans – there was no climbing to be done. I have high hopes for the two vines I started via seeds, we shall see how it goes. Also, I decided to put in poppy seeds in the middle. It will be a fun little poppy bed! I poked up the dirt a bit and tossed out some poppy seeds, we shall see how it goes! I did find some poppies already growing in the other bed, so I pulled them up to transplant them in the arch way, hopefully they make it.

What I’m not regretting, is the amount of seedlings I do not have, or the spreadsheet, or the notebook….it’s been very nice not to have to hustle home after a day at work and fret about things. It’s been nice to just grow things and enjoy the process. I go out to check on the seedlings, and can rejoice in what is growing, and not fret about what isn’t. I’m not having to calculate grow times, spacing or harvest times. Interestingly, Joe had a quote pop up in his email the other day by Ralph Waldo Emerson, that sums this up very well…. “Adopt the pace of nature; her secret is patience”. Certainly something I need work on. Joe is much better at it them I am, I’m learning.

What’s also been super nice, is the last two weekends have been filled with projects around the place. Mowing lawns, cleaning up from winter, picking up all my clay projects, preparing for the Spring Market at a nice slow pace. It’s not that I don’t love having social time with the family, but the last two weekends have been ours to use as we please. We’ve taken advantage of the time and have managed to get some things marked off the list.

Yesterday we went looking for fruit trees up to Cloud Mountain farms. Last year we made the mistake of waiting until May or June…something like that and missed out on trees. We were told we needed to come up in February, but we didn’t listen to them – but we haven’t had time, until this weekend. Thankfully they did indeed have a few trees Joe wanted to add to the new orchard we are installing. We found three apple trees & a cherry tree. The anticipation of the fruit we will have from the trees a few years from now is very exciting, thoughts of apple cider, cherry apple crisp & apple pies are dancing through my head. One of my friends once mentioned a quote I had never heard before – the best day to plant a tree was 20 years ago, the second best day is today. Last year we did add a few trees in honor of the grandkids, but none of them were fruit trees.

For Jaxson, the three-year-old (4 now) nut, we planted two hazelnut trees, for Zoey the then five-year-old granddaughter a pink dogwood and for Lily the new born we planted a magnolia. I took pictures of the two older kids standing next to their trees, I will have to see if I can find them and get them stashed away where I will be able to locate them quickly for when the kids graduate high school we can have their picture next to the trees again. I’ll be sure to get a picture of Lily next to her tree this spring – perhaps over spring break when she comes to spend the night on Friday night.

Speaking of Spring Break, it filled up quickly! Scout has a doctors appointment tomorrow, we’ve noticed he’s been limping a bit and want to be sure there isn’t any real complications happening. We are hoping it is just growing stuff, but of course I have visions of cancer or something else horrible…. Tuesday is glazing day for the crew – lots of work to be completed. The two grands are staying that night, shopping for clothes on Wednesday for the two growing nuts, Thursday is dinner plans with friends to celebrate an 88th birthday, and Friday night we have Lily all day, and overnight. We will have our Sunday to recover from the busy week! It won’t be non-stop, there will be breaks here and there, it will be nice to sleep in and go at an easy pace.

I went through my pottery pieces to take inventory. I meant to mark prices on all of the items, but packed them away after writing them all down in my little book. I think I ended up with 33 trinket dishes – hopefully I can sell over half of them, it would be nice to sell all of them, but we shall see. I have two friends that have put dibs on items already, so thankfully I have at least two sales. I didn’t end up with nearly as many pots as I was hoping, and the ones I did end up with are a bit tiny….it’s okay, things will move on out hopefully, and I can make room for more. I’m packing up my tools to move them outside, now that it’s decent outside, I can start working in the garage. I’ve asked Joe to move up a workbench to stash things outside the garage door on the south side of the house, out of sight of company, in the shade for when the weather heats up and a nice little area to keep all my crap while I play with clay this summer. One of these days I will have a room in the barn where I can put things – instead of having all my stuff in the kitchen. Hopefully I can avoid bringing in projects for several months. We shall see what Fall and Winter have in store for us this year. Who knows what will happen when school starts again.

I’ve toiled and stressed the last school year over what might be, what could happen, and what could be, I think at this point I’m up for just about anything happening. Things are being said that make me second guess my position at the school next year – more so than usual honestly – but strangely, I’m at peace with it. Whatever happens, happens….go with the flow….I have talked to another school district that might be looking for someone like me – but who knows….anything can happen. For now, I thoroughly enjoy my spring break, I finish out the school year and enjoy my summer – with no looking back and no fretting – just forward. Take my dad’s advice….when he got cancer…. “que sera sera”.

I best get a move on, we are heading out for our adventure soon, in addition to the morning routine, I need to put some dirt on those daffodils, and water the babies in the greenhouse. Thank you so much for stopping by, until next time my friends – take good care of yourself – hugs to you!