It won’t be long
The signs of
spring are starting to show as I look around in my backyard, and in the
greenhouse. I have even observed a bloom on a purple passion vine in the house I
never saw before. I have had pretty good success at getting my seeds started
and it looks like I should have plenty of tomatoes if nothing else. but I am
still working on a lot of different things to have for my open house which I am
pushing back to the 25th of May, thinking that Mother’s day will be too
early for planting a garden since the last frost free date is May 10th in Ohio.
Hopefully we will all be looking forward to planting soon.
I will have
tomatoes started in containers this year that you can buy and take home with
you allowing you a chance to have earlier tomatoes than your neighbor and allow
you to enjoy the taste of tomatoes earlier yourself. I have also ordered in and
received strawberry plants and have them started in individual pots to allow
you to plant in containers and will have a few of these containers available
for sale. The nice thing about doing strawberries in containers is that you can
pick them up and weed and feed and then remember where you have them planted
when the harvest is over to avoid weed eater injury or overgrowth of weeds in
the berry patch. I am also going to spend some time working in my raspberry
patch and may have a few select canes for sale as I thin out the berries this
year. These have been a consistent heavy producer year after year with heavy quarter
size berries. Great to eat alone or in freezer jam.
Last Sunday, Mom’s
plans fell through, and so we just jumped in the car and took off for no place
certain, but many by happenstance, and ended up north of Alliquippa, Pennsylvania.
In fact it was hard to decipher which state I was in, as Pennsylvania is not
nearly as vain as Ohio is in announcing their state lines. No big blue signs as
Ohio does, or the complimentary state trooper munching on donuts while manning
a radar gun. All we knew we were headed north along the Ohio river then at one
point we crossed over amidst a major industrial area, and were soon headed back
down the other side of the Ohio river, just looking for a place to eat. We passed
a major railroad yard complete with a roundtable and just an amazing view of
what a modern railway looks like as you can tell while driving along at 55
miles per hour. Being the trip photographer and driver has its disadvantages. No
pictures for one thing. I do have some of a beaver dam I will show you in
Scenic Vista park outside of Lisbon, Ohio. A neat park if you like being alone,
and seeing something at the same time, as it features a log cabin and a covered
bridge of which I have old photos, which I will share. I was busy driving and we logged in 180 miles
in one day followed by a trip to Amish country the next day to pick up greenhouse
supplies I needed. Was nice seeing the Amish countryside.
As someone
anonymously said, it is all about priorities and mine have been slipping lately,
or have they. In some ways priorities are outside your world. A magical,
mystical place you want to be ideally no matter what happens, a lofty goal. But your life is driven more by survival and
destiny as you were born in a certain place and raised in a certain way and
your destiny tells you by your contacts and environment which direction your
life will go. What bills to pay, what things I need to grow. It takes time to
plant your seeds and tend the soil. A contractor I used to work for, Don Sterling
once had a sign outside his place that said, ‘ Bloom where you are planted’. Something
I have tried to do. Yes, if you have a higher priority you could just take off
and do whatever, but you would miss those time proven treasures of what life is
about. Maybe it is spending time with Mom, feeling the sun on your back
smelling the spring air, watching a bee trying to find a bloom and get things
started. Scratching my cow Mudder’s head when she decides to visit with me,
priorities are nice and purpose driven but even priorities need to take a
backseat to just smelling the roses while they are blooming. Priorities keep
you on track. But they change daily. Life doesn’t, it seems to work out as
destiny intended with or without your input. Instead of fretting about being on
track, I tend to just enjoy myself, and maybe worry a little if I will have
enough time in my life for all those things I have to do.
After a dinner
we returned to our familiar border with its big blue signs, welcoming us home,
as I set the GPS to home and just followed along. Was glad to be back.
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