Not So Secret Garden

Bathroom greenhouse

Today's post is about "'leadership'". Just kidding, it's actually about one of our family group projects, gardening. Our gardening exploits so far this spring have come in a variety of phases, from Dad creating herb planters out old cement pipes; to my sister planting the garden with plants Mom got from the hardware store, to my other sister helping me plant some seeds. So far everyone has found some time to play in the dirt.

Cement her planter

The initial surge in gardening was partly boredom, partly because one of my sisters is taking plant science, and partly irritation that grocery stores were running out of food. In other words we were skirting the border that leads too crazy prepper territory. You needn't fear though, since I spearheaded half the effort after the initial surge, the momentum has died down.

Proof the seedlings were once happy

The seeds which started out strong growing in our bathroom (it was cold outside, ok), have started to droop and look pathetic as they hold out hope they will be planted soon. However all is not lost, the corn did get put in the ground recently, as did the beans. The reason the rest of the baby plants haven't made it to the garden is that we do not enough space on the current drip line. Hopefully we'll remedy this soon and plant the tender shoots before they kick the bucket. While I hate seeing work go to waste, (yes, I know it's the reoccurring state of my garden) we have tons of seeds we can replant with. Apparently I have this habit of buying more seeds before using the ones I already had.

I have a problem...

Moving on from my charming quirks, my "plan" is to plant what we have and then see where and what else we might be able to grow. The coming weeks will show how the transplanting went an if any more of our baby plants made it to the garden before giving up the ghost.

Light Yoke, Easy Burden

Restless yet at peace. Not sure how it works, but it seems to be one of the themes of 2020. The trick is to find ways to expend energy without overdoing it. Can’t say I’m there yet, but some moments I’m closer.

Reverting to Childhood

Since the extended down time, we've picked up a variety of projects at the old Home Stead. My personal projects have included updating this blog and starting some seeds to plant in the garden. I've even been creating simple videos to encourage a friend to exercise every day! (These quality films basically consist of my voice rattling off exercises with an image of something like the dogs, or my little sister smiling.)

But not all the projects have been individually driven. The seeds have become more of a group project and we've played several board games over the past weeks.  One of my sisters even dug out a 3D Cinderella puzzle I bought for her years ago. Turns out, I'm really, really, extra bad at 3D puzzles. I spent an hour staring at the pieces and put about two together. My sister meanwhile put together the foundation to build the castle on. A couple days after we broke the puzzle out of its hibernation, sister number two sits down and starts putting pieces together during a study break. In those 10 minutes she connected  a bunch of the pieces I had stared at for over an hour!

Suffice to say, between work/school, reading ('cause who doesn't love books), photosynthesizing, and other random activities we've stayed pretty occupied. However, you can never have too much to do when you're sitting at home with time on your hands. Or so my family seems to think, which is why on Wednesday night I came in from a walk to discover that one of my brothers had brought over a giant, awesome, Lego pirate ship. After dinner the box was opened and building commenced. It is interesting, some things have remained the same while other aspects have changed from the Lego pirates of my childhood. The faces, shirts and even the Jolly Roger are different, while the muskets, cutlasses, and rowboat have remained the same. Oddly enough the most disturbing change so far (other than the pastel base) is the palm-tree trunks. I don't know why, I love the fronds, but the trunks are so foreign to what I remember it weirds me out.

I must add, Lego has gotten very kind in recent years and numbers the bags to make finding pieces for each section easier. Perhaps this isn't a new development and I just ignored such fantastic organization as a child; but I absolutely love it as an adult. However, I have a sneaking suspicion that if I had children I might be the devil parent who mixes all the pieces up in a bowl and makes the kids go fishing to find what they need...

Now that you know how we're maintaining shreds of sanity, what toys or games did you enjoy playing with as a kid? Do you have any fun projects in the works? If not I challenge you consider digging through the attic and revisiting some of those old joys. While we can't fully go back to our childhood (to the relief of some) there's nothing wrong with occasionally embracing childlike joy and innocence.

Speaking of children, this blog post (#grownup-homework?) is done which means, I get to go play in the Legos!!!