A Week Later

an Adele'-made asparagus man

It seems to be a growing trend that I blog about once a week...even when I try hard to make it more frequent.

Andrew said the other day "Where did April and May go?"  For a nine year old boy to notice how quickly time is passing is pretty remarkable to me.  As a child, time passed differently than it does now.  There was very little looking back and wondering where time went and much much more looking ahead, counting down moments to the next big thing. It has changed for me.  I spend more time looking back in wonder at where the time has gone and I try not to think too far into the future lest I become overwhelmed with all the work that must be done.

Despite usually getting my garden in by Memorial Day, I am *still* working on getting it in...though progress has been made.  It has been more of a little bit here, little bit there method this year.  I did plants on the first weekend and then it rained for four days straight.  (PERFECT!)  I began seeds a few days later and realized I had never bought any beet seeds (absolutely necessary, people!) or onion sets (?!?!?) and barely enough beans so the day ended without finishing up.  (Not that I minded- I was exhausted.)  I intended to get the beans, beets and onions in the ground yesterday but only managed the onions before I was beat and we had to leave the house anyway.  Onions exhausting me?  COME ON!  Although- in fairness, we did plant about 500.

If all goes well, today is beet and bean day and then the big garden will be DONE.  The only thing left after that as far as planting goes is establishing a permanent herb garden, but the place needs to be rototilled by my Mister- so I'm at his mercy.  I am going to put it next to the asparagus bed.  My hope is that the herbs will reseed themselves so I don't have to start from scratch every year.  And of course, there is the hay mulch to add to the gardens.  But it will feel very good to have everything finally in the ground that needs to be there.

The porch project is on hold for a while so that we can focus on firewood.  We are behind in that as well.  And, despite wanting/needing/hoping for a batch of pigs this year I am doubtful it will happen again.  There is just so little time to get everything done that needs to be and so little of Matt to stretch around.  I wish I could hire someone to come and do some fencing and pig-hut building so Matt wouldn't have to use up his precious time but I could get pigs.  Every time I dump an old gallon of milk, it makes me upset that we don't have pigs.  We should have pigs!  WE SHOULD HAVE PIGS!  Why can't I make this work?!?!?

I stopped harvesting the asparagus this week so that I don't expect too much from them on their first harvest year.  We had asparagus to eat and there even turned out to be a 2 quarts worth to freeze!  Having never grown it before, I am not sure if the plants get more prolific the older they are...if the yields will be the same every year I should have planted more and maybe will add a few crowns next year.  Even still, I've always thought of asparagus as a luxury vegetable...a vegetable of kings...they can be so expensive at the store!  How wonderful to be able to eat like kings from our very own garden with little roasted spears of deep green, drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled generously with salt.

We got our first strawberry harvest this week!  Up until now, we've always taken the first ripe berry of the season and cut it six ways for everyone to have a nibble...but six nibbles is practically nothing, let me tell you!  How exciting, this year, to find SIX perfectly ripe berries for the very first picking!  Each of us got a single strawberry for our after dinner dessert.  Yum.

We are entering into the 'time of plenty' and abundance that has been lacking all winter.  Flowers everywhere.  Fresh and delicious food right outside of our door.  And having gone without for such a long time, it all tastes and looks and smells that much more glorious.

If there was never a time of lacking, we would never have the opportunity to be overwhelmed by the goodness of not lacking.

No better example of this than with our sweet Tiddle...who I got to see yesterday for the first time!

(Not unrelated...)
We are at an impasse with our van.  Option 1: spend about $4,000 in needed repairs before it can pass inspection (which runs out at the end of this month) on a 10 year old, 160,000+ mile paid-off van or Option 2: get a new(er) van with less mileage and a car payment to go with it.  I don't like option 2 but realize option 1 is a gamble.  To Matt, option 1 is not an option.  So, van shopping must be done.  But what van?  Another 7 passenger?  A bigger one since I'd like to pay it off as quickly as possible and keep it for as long as possible- thus, keeping options for more space available a few years from now?  I am 12 weeks pregnant on Sunday, I already look pregnant, I've been sicker than I think I have ever been and I was beginning to wonder if there might be a reason for it.  Twins, maybe?  Well, I didn't want to buy a 7 passenger van with twins on the way (that would be bad) so I thought I should see about an ultrasound.  Since we have crummy insurance and pay for everything out of pocket...I did some research and called around.  After I was very clear I had no intention of aborting my baby, a nearby crisis pregnancy center let me get a free ultrasound as a 'model' for the nurses to practice their ultrasound skills yesterday!    Turns out, twins was wishful thinking and that this big belly of mine is due in part to my little Hoss, Judah, stretching me out the last time around and due in part (probably mostly) to the ice cream cones I keep getting from McDonalds.

But there Tiddle was...sucking his/her thumb, sleeping with his arms up behind his head then later, doing acrobatics, kicking those teeny little legs with gusto and my heart nearly burst into a million different pieces.  Tiddle!  There you are!  A little heart beating 168 beats per minute, a little body stretching and growing stronger, a little soul fearfully and wonderfully made.

It is so good.

  It is so good, the goodness is hard to fathom.