Today while I waited for the bus, I saw this:
Doesn’t look like much does it?
But it’s my garden.
A little more melt and the rhubarb will start unfurling while we watch. A little more snow retreating and I’ll sprinkle spinach seeds and look for hints of cilantro in the herb section. Overly optimistic? Maybe. Yeah, a little.
But closer to the house, on the sunny side, the ground is truly bare. The mounds where the hops grow, the ever weedy flower bed that runs along the playroom, the patch of daily lilies by the back door—clear of snow.
Today while I waited for the bus, after I spied that tiny patch of garden ground, I picked up the kids’ rake, which had loitered by the back door all winter, and started raking out brown leaves and dead debris by the back door.
Then I squatted in my winter coat and tugged dead grass from the border. My fingers wiggled into the cold damp earth and came out muddy and chilled. I only poked for a few minutes, but when I went in they smelled like dirt. Ah, spring.
Snow still covers most of my yard and almost all of my garden. Yet I yearn to get out there and start planting. Today I scratched in the dirt.
Call it desperation.
Or hope.
I have my seeds. I’m ready to plant them. I’m ready to grow.
What are you yearning to do? What baby steps are you taking?
I’m looking forward to the growing season, and to Grow, my online writing retreat for spring. Come plant your ideas and see them bloom. I’d love to write with you.
The word that keeps coming to me lately is SPACE. I am only away from my daughter a ton of 4 hours a week. Today I took a big leap and asked a friend to watch her for two hours. It went well and I got some SPACE! It was hard. I cried all the way home after dropping her off but it was a start. Baby steps!
Beautiful piece.
My mom shares your sentiments. She misses her garden all winter long and is so excited when she sees a patch of grass.
I love that first smell of dirt. Smells like hope.
I have been gardening with my parents the last few days, but at my own home it is apparently snowing! It is fine though. We have seedlings started inside. A happily covered hoop house with sprouts. The promise of Spring is sometimes better than the season itself.
OK so I might now be feeling a little guilty that I haven’t planted yet…. Of course here on the West Coast we’ve been snow bare since the single fall in December. I started to weed the garden about a month ago, that portion has already regrown. Perhaps this weekend, with the celebration of Easter and everything spring I’ll dive in and get my hands dirty. I’ll think of you <3
Oh, do it! (And just digging around out there, even if it gets overgrown again is such a good thing.)
Hope. It is always hope. This is what easter is all about, spring and life and new beginnings. Here, we hope that it will cool down slightly (but that the sunny days will stay! How I dread Lima’s gray gray winters.)
Hoping for sun for you, Hannelene!