Friday, December 26, 2008

Hope "springs" eternal

"Spring is nature's way of saying, 'Let's party!'" ~Robin Williams

I love spring anywhere, but if I could choose I would always greet it in a garden. ~Ruth Stout

No matter how long the winter, spring is sure to follow. ~Proverb

O, wind, if winter comes, can spring be far behind? ~Percy Bysshe Shelley

So, Christmas is over. We don't do anything big for New Year's around here, and it's a long haul until springtime.

I look forward to spring more than usual this year. I've planted several trees and shrubs, plus tulips, iris, and other posies; I'm anxious to see which ones survive and thrive. We need to plant grass for a decent lawn, although Cliff says he'd rather wait until next fall to do that: fall-planted grasses seem to do so much better, and emerge with fewer weeds. There's enough remaining pasture-grass over most of the yard so that it's not just bare dirt.

I intend to do some vegetable gardening, taking it as easy on my complaining knees as possible. For some reason,
bending over to pick beans with arthritic knees is extremely painful; so I may go with pole beans this year. Or I may find myself something to sit on and move it along the row.

I hope to have tomatoes to can, but other than that, I don't intend to "put up" much produce. Canning and preserving used to be fun; now it's drudgery, and as long as our finances don't demand it, I won't do it.

I eagerly look forward to the seed catalogs, which will probably start arriving in the mailbox today.

Of course, with spring comes my annual feud with the neighbors who climb the fence onto our property and steal my morel mushrooms; I wouldn't mind at all if they'd share, but they don't. They're going to have to be more sneaky this year, because where we live now I can look out any north-facing window and see who's walking around the pasture.

6 comments:

  1. We got a seed catalog today -- not sure if it is the first or not, but it is huge and beautiful. Donna... do the pole beans. You won't regret it. Grow them on a cattle panel; you can even bend it to make an "arch".

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  2. I used to can too but like you say it's not so much fun any more especially with just the two of us.
    I made your Oreo dessert again for Christmas Eve and once again everyone loved it!

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  3. Donna .....my hubby got me the neatest wagon one year, it has a seat, and storage inside and out, and cup holders...it is so cool, because its not my knees that have the hard time, it's my back and instead of stooping over i can sit on the wagon and scoot it along, for weeding or planting, if ya want a pic just let me know.
    the loopest

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  4. Seed catalogs are the best and it's so nice they send them out just when we all need a little Spring in our lives. It's nice to dream of anyway. 'On Ya'-ma

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  5. Hee hee, I haven't thought about Morel Mushrooms since your last mushroom adventure. Marlene

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  6. You're making me wish for spring. Of course right now it doesn't look like I will be physically able to do anything toward planting flowers. Looking forward to seeing some photos of yours. Helen

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