Trending Spring, Garden Talk, and Other News Fresh From the Farm

Inside: Searching for signs of spring, Mom does garden talk, and sometimes you’re just not into it.

Searching for Signs of Spring

Wandering around my yard yesterday, in search of some worthy subject to represent spring, I happened upon this robin in a green patch of grass. Perfect.

Admittedly, it’s a bit early to have spring fever, but I do. I was talking to a friend at critique group last week, and she mentioned how she was just getting tired of being cold.

My sentiments exactly.

And the high heating bills don’t help, either. I received a nice reminder from my electric company the other day, telling me how I’m using a lot more energy than most other folks with my size home. (Hint, hint, stop hogging all the electricity.)

Sorry about that. I like it warm. I’ll do my part saving energy in the summer when everybody else sets their thermostat between 68 and 72, and I’ll be happily existing somewhere between 78 to 82 degrees.

Mom Does Garden Talk

Half a dozen women gathered last week at the Mindful Monday Meeting  to hear Mom’s gardening wisdom and plant tomato and flower seeds. Cindy Cappel and her group welcomed Mom and me, and we settled in for a fun evening!  It’s been a while since Mom has taught a class, but she came back to it like a pro.

During her garden talk, she parceled out several gold nuggets that this experienced gardener could take home. My favorite–compost feeds the soil, fertilizer feeds the plants. Another savvy tip she told us was that instead of throwing out old brewed coffee, it can be used as fertilizer–one part coffee to four parts water. Coffee contains quite a few goodies for your garden–phosphorus, potassium, magnesium, and copper. So don’t forget your plants. They like a morning cup, too!

Mom fielded questions about watering plants, knowing if your soil is warm enough to plant seeds, and amending soil, among other topics. Then she showed the ladies how to plant seeds in peat pots–“Putting the baby to bed,” she called it. We visit the group again this Monday when she will discuss straw bale gardening.

I feel the green returning to my thumb already!

Sometimes You’re Just Not into It

It pains me to say this, but I just haven’t been into the Olympics this time around. Normally I love the winter Olympics–everybody in cold-weather garb, round smiling faces with a hint of pink from the chill. Cow bells rung alongside the ski path as competitors fly by. All the beauty of winter on my large screen TV while I sit cozy and warm inside sipping a coffee.

And South Korea, what’s not to love? Warm, welcoming people and lovely scenery.

So why the lack of enthusiasm this time around?

I don’t like the subtle programming changes. It used to be back-to-back Olympic coverage, with little in between but some commercials to help pay for it. But if you don’t happen to have cable television, you’re left feeling like a hungry person wandering the grocery aisles and being handed a toothpick sample of some meat product. Behind the sample is a box covered with slick packaging. The meat is okay, but it doesn’t do a thing for your appetite.

I don’t appreciate seeing samples of skaters  and missing entire performances. I don’t like my screen split between a commercial and quad jump. I find it odd that we’re not getting more personal stories of athletes, and I have a sneaking suspicion that some of what the athletes have to say–particularly if it might point to a personal faith statement–is ending up on the cutting room floor.

Disappointing is an understatement, really. This viewer feels cheated, and I’m probably not alone. Considering their lackluster and selective network coverage, I’m left asking one question.

Whatever happened to the Olympic spirit?

Maybe I’m supposed to pay for that, too.

 

What’s happening in your neck of the woods? Tell us about it in the comments.

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