Developing a whole new lifestyle means doing new, and wholesome things with one’s time.
Of course, I decided to take on an activity that revolves mostly around food. A vegetable(and some fruits) garden! I have always been a woman who enjoys getting her hands dirty. I love the feel of dirt on my skin, and the way a weed comes up from the soil. There’s also very little to be compared to tamping down soft earth over a freshly planted seedling.
Though I rent, my backyard was ripe for the pickin’. It always had potential, but has required more than a little bit of work.. Which is good for me, I’m finding out. Less time to be left to my own devices. (re: staying locked inside my brain long enough to start kicking myself from the inside.)
As a matter of fact, I was jolted from my slumber by Negative Nancy. It’s nearly three o’clock in the morning, and she rushed to tell me that Doubting Thomas was having tea with Debbie Downer. I wish she would stop being such a busy body. I wonder, as of late, if these three were always part of me, and I just gave them a pool of vodka to swim in to keep themselves occupied. I wonder, too, if they’ll ever slither off into the sunset together, and start a family of worry warts far away from here. I do so wish that for them. And for me.
Back to gardening!
I should have, I realize now, taken a picture of what my yard looked like before I started this work..
It’s pretty dismal here, but not as atrocious as I found it. Maybe it’s for the better.
There were pots, chairs, cheap/old decorations, and tall weeds spotting the entire yard. There was no rhyme or reason, as my landlord had simply let it go by the wayside. The side of my yard on the right of the garage is filled now with mostly decorative perennials, and the other side was filled with weeds.
There is a beautiful magnolia tree next to the house, but it blooms in early spring. Early spring in Milwaukee means that it’s still cold and rainy, and those lovely flowers are absolutely pulverized before I can enjoy them. I didn’t even have a chance to snap a photograph this year.
One of my favorite things about gardening so far(it’s my first time) are the bits of nature I get to see up close. For instance, there are a fair amount of fat little Robin Redbreasts twittering around me at all times. When I use the hose to water the gardens, two or three of them brazenly flutter into them, and pull worms from the moistened ground.
A few days ago, as I sat making a playlist of gardening songs, I was physically accosted by a portly grey squirrel at my foot. I’d like to say that he ran away when I shrieked and kicked at him, but it was more of a smug saunter. That asshole had better stay away from my crop. If I have one. (Shut up, Tom!)
Nature Finds:
This cocoon. I don’t know what it is. I didn’t return it to it’s earthy home, as I can’t just leave nature to do it’s thing. I actually rested it on my porch, photographed it, then let it stay there. It’s not there anymore. I’m going to venture a guess that it flew away. Ehhh. Yeah.
And this owl pellet.
I have been enthralled with owl pellets since we got to dissect them in grade school. It was the first animal bit we got our hands on. One step before the worm. I had my parents send for animals soaked in formaldehyde to carve up at home all through those years. Not in a serial killer kind of way! I had all sorts of live things scratching about in my room as well. When they died, it was from natural causes, I assure you! I digress.
Well.. I think I finally got my thoughts to calm down, just as the rain started to sweep against the trees outside my window. I do *love* to sleep in the rain.
To Be Continued…
Update: It is five o’clock in the morning, and I am still awake. Whyyyyyyyyy?????
