Progress in Inches

Kathy and I were off from work for a few days last week, so we took advantage of the change in the weather. The weather has turned warmer now and finally the chance to turn over soil and plant green things has arrived. Thursday we visited Salem Herb Gardens to see what they had available for planting, as we walked through the greenhouses we looked over the few things available and remembered that truly warm weather is still a month away. We picked up several varieties of lettuce and some bok choi to plant in containers on the patio and in the back garden plot all of which are cold weather plants that can still withstand a little frost this early in the season. Kathy started renewing the containers spent soil with an addition of new potting mix and fertilizer and I looked out over the other garden plots and panicked. I saw lots of debris left from our harsh winter and the piles of recently trimmed herbs, raspberry canes, shrubs and last years' Christmas tree. I thought about the upcoming growing season and how much work there was to be done and how much progress we would have to make in a short amount of time. The day ended with lettuce planted and me thinking about all the things that needed to be done all at once. Our society has trained us to believe that we need to do everything now, we have to have everything now, we have to have the big play or the big gain now or we're not in the game. We applaud the fast break slam dunk, the long bomb touchdown, the breakaway one on one goal and admire those who accomplish them and we forget patient waiting and planning. Saturday came and I remembered the onion sets in the basement which had been sitting in a cardboard box waiting for this day. I raked back the leaves covering that area of the garden and saw black soil and wriggling worms and smelled the freshness of a  newly exposed plot of ground. I settled into the chore and turned over the ground with a pitchfork breaking clods into pieces and raking the soil smooth inch by inch. Now the time to put in the onion sets had arrived and I measured an inch on a small stake marking it with a piece of tape to make a hole in the ground in which to set each plant. Then I measured five inches between each plant as I set them in the ground and slowly I made progress inch by inch, plant by plant and it occurred to me that this is what farming and life is about. The debris will be taken care of inch by inch, the ground will be turned over inch by inch, the rabbitry will have a new hutch added inch by inch, the position of the sun will move inch by inch, the plants will grow inch by inch and we will make progress toward our dream inch by inch.

Anticipation

Anticipation is a funny word because it describes so many things, if you don't believe that look up the definition on line. One thing it can mean is a foretaste and that happened this February during a particularly cold and snowy winter. The weather has been tough this year for a lot of folks but if you raise rabbits or have gardens it seemed like the never ending winter. The rabbits who will normally breed when coaxed wanted nothing to do with each other, oh sure the buck would try but those does knew this winter was bad and that having kits during this stretch would be a bad idea. Then it happened a little three day thaw in the middle of a never ending cycle of bone chilling cold and days of stormy weather. I had resigned myself to waiting for balmier days of March before even trying to breed the rabbits again or thinking about spring planting. I dared not even dream of furry little kits and green things as I looked out at ice and snow covered garden plots and rabbit hutches being warmed by heat lamps. Then there it was a little warm up and as I felt the warmer air and the effect of a now higher sun the wheels began to turn and quick calculations were going on in my head. A rabbits gestation period is 28 to 32 days and my mind started figuring when I could anticipate the kits arrival and their probably of survival if I bred the does that weekend. I thought it would be worth the chance, after all the end of March can be warm and those rabbit mamas have lots of fur to pull to keep the babies warm. In a quick calculation the decision was made and the does were introduced to the buck and in three very willing visits the next generation of kits was conceived. It was like the foretaste of spring, like the anticipation of things turning green again and the taste of fresh lettuce and greens on my tongue. The weather turned bad again but no matter the rabbits and I had our foretaste of spring.