Garden Seeds, Hot Cocoa, and James Joyce
We had
a super-sweet New Year’s weekend.
Todd and I went out to an early dinner on New
Year’s Eve, then headed home, and enjoyed a nice, long weekend together. I
turned a lot of my attention to the dogs, whom I feel have been patiently
waiting for some extra loving. I made a yummy coconut curry chickpea soup, pruned
the geraniums in the window, made chaga, hummus, and carob brownies, and
started giving thought to this year’s food gardens. It’s only January, but
March comes right along, and that’s when the greens bed gets its start.
If the
greens bed isn’t covered with 3 feet of snow in March, my plan is to try
something new. Instead of starting greens seeds indoors and transplanting
outside, or waiting for the weather to warm to plant outdoors, I’ll direct sow
in the ground while the ground is still cold, and mulch with hay. I expect that
the seeds will lie dormant until the ground warms to germinating temperature
(which is different temps for different seeds), and let the plants begin their
growth. I don’t think the seeds will rot – greens seeds are very hardy.
It’s time
to start looking at Franchi organic seeds for January or February ordering.
Plus, there’s nothing better than being curled up on the couch with a mug of
cocoa, the wood stove or fireplace roaring, and the latest spring seeds catalog
to pore over.
And it’s time, now that we’re deep into winter, for some James Joyce. This time of year always stokes my appetite for Sunny Jim. His collection, ‘The Dubliners’, his epic, ‘Ulysses’, and my favorite short story, ‘The Dead’ (part of The Dubliners collection) are required reading while the snow falls and the garden sleeps.
Read ‘The
Dead’ sometime soon, and if you don’t have the patience the read it all, just
read the last few paragraphs of the story. Sometimes, when I walk by my copy of
Joyce, I’ll pick it up and just read those last few paragraphs. When you talk
about luminous writing, that’s what you’re talking about.
Now
that we’ve cut the ribbon on 2016, it’s just a few months until we get planting
again. Joy. In the meantime, there’s seed catalogs, cocoa, pots of strong Bewley’s
tea, the dogs, my husband, a fire in the fireplace, pots of hot soup, and James
Joyce.
Not a bad life, this.
Not a bad life, this.
ཞི་བདེ
Peace on Earth