A Good Day's Work

The Peace of Wild Things

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

-- Wendell Berry

Sunday was a good day on the suburban farmstead. A beautiful spring day offering sun burns all around and a steady wind up here on the hill that helps one better understand the sometimes fatal bouts of ancraophobia suffered by the early prairie pioneers. As much as I wanted to get some carrots in the ground, there was simply no way to do it without planting them in the rest of the county. So I resigned myself to moving heavier things like soil for the kids' gardens. I built two of these side by side with just enough room to mow between them (I won't be truly happy until there's no grass left to mow at all). I assembled them using recycled plastic TuffTimbers^TM from Landscape Structures. Oddly, without plants in them they end up resembling fishing junks more than raised gardens.




So, the boy wants to grow melons in his, but I'm getting concerned about the odds of that happening. The other day he said, "Dad, is that all you think about is gardening, gardening, gardening?" There's hope for my daughter's peas and carrots I think, but I'll be happy to utilize any space they are unwilling or unable to fill. Still looking for room for more tomatoes.

In the meantime, the Sugar Ann Snap Peas are popping up at the base of the trellis. (Sorry about that shot--I start to feel dizzy looking at it too.)

The broccoli continues to flourish in the cooler weather and do its part advertising for Food Club Sour Cream.

Rhubarb, the old faithful of bread and muffin perennials, seems to be enjoying the weather just fine.


And, finally, I'm looking forward to savoring the first French Breakfast Radishes with my Café au lait and croissant here in a few weeks.

I spent this evening putting in two potato towers for the Desiree and Purple Viking potatoes I ordered from Seed Savers Exchange. Rumors of rain over the next couple days (and the fact that potatoes should have been in a couple of weeks ago) motivated me to get that done. So scavenging some old redwood decking, building the first tier of the boxes, and getting the potatoes in took me right up to sundown and left barely enough time for this post and a shower. Picture of the towers will have to wait until the next installment.