Ahhh!!! The signs of Spring are everywhere. Birds are chirping, daffodils are blooming, while the other bulbs are beginning to poke their little green shoots through the ground. It’s almost as if they are a bit leery, just feeling around a bit to make sure that the snow is really gone for the season. I understand the concern, after all,we had slushy snow falling a mere 6 days ago.
Myriads of glorious landscaping catalogs have been filling my mailbox for weeks. I have a strange Harlequin Romance kind of relationship with gardener supply catalogs. Each year I delve into their pages with gusto. I visualize the perennial and flower gardens that are sure to make our yard a gorgeous tourist attraction. Then I really get going and mentally plot out the lavish vegetable garden that is waiting to be planted. We will grow vegetables for the masses! People will talk about my tomatoes for years to come. Songs will be written about my beautiful, perfect peppers. And as long as I am building my bounty, I will plant fruit trees! My own mini-orchard. Oh! We can grow all of our own produce, and put it up for winter! Can you see it? Tell me you share my vision!
Sigh. Then I close the catalogs, and glance outside. I can see it all. Our property, in all of its wild, overgrown splendor, is a clean slate. Never mind the fact that the majority of our property is a steep, sandy, slope. Forget that our land is so densely wooded that the majority of the plantable areas barely get a glimpse of the sun. And completely ignore the herd of deer that traverse our land each day, trampling or eating just about every stick of vegetation in their path. These are minor obstacles in my grand plan. I just know that I have an inner-farmer bursting to be set free! Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to get my canning supplies together. I’ve got a lot of work ahead of me come harvest time.
