It all began with a book. And an FMLA leave...
The gardening book was one I bought last year, in the beginning of the season, in hopes to stretch my gardening wings and try new things. It's title "The Family Kitchen Garden" lead me to believe that it had everything I needed to really do some great things. Last year, for many reasons, the growing season was not a good one for me. The book remained with so many others gathering dust, as a working high school teacher of two toddlers rarely had time to read for pleasure.
Then, this spring, something horrible happened.
I began getting migraines, which is normally no big deal. I've been a migraine suffer for over 20 years, and I was no stranger to frequent migraines. When I saw frequent, I mean up to three a week. That was my norm, and I was OK with it. Then March roared its ugly roar and brought the beginning of weeks of non-stop migraines unlike anything I had seen before. I was in the ER twice, spent 3 days in the hospital, and have been on too many medications to mention. Needless to say, I spent a good amount of time on my bumm feeling as if someone were banging into my head with a rusty hammer. Things got a lot worse before they got [a smidgen] better, and by better I mean I realized the ER could not help me, and I could keep my $100 copay in my pocket.
I began getting migraines, which is normally no big deal. I've been a migraine suffer for over 20 years, and I was no stranger to frequent migraines. When I saw frequent, I mean up to three a week. That was my norm, and I was OK with it. Then March roared its ugly roar and brought the beginning of weeks of non-stop migraines unlike anything I had seen before. I was in the ER twice, spent 3 days in the hospital, and have been on too many medications to mention. Needless to say, I spent a good amount of time on my bumm feeling as if someone were banging into my head with a rusty hammer. Things got a lot worse before they got [a smidgen] better, and by better I mean I realized the ER could not help me, and I could keep my $100 copay in my pocket.
Finally, I realized that while sitting in my bed or on the sofa, despite the pain I was in, I could read. I could not read 'War & Peace', but I could read my gardening books. And so I did. I read my books, I took notes, I planned, replanned, and planned again. I researched, reread, and finally decided on what plants I wanted to grow and where they would live their short spring/summer life in my raised bed [made for me two summers ago by my amazing husband].
Since I am a 'hard core' gardener, I decided to do almost 100% of my crops from seeds. Yes, it was going to be a bit challenging. Yes, it was going to take a lot more time. And yes, the wind and birds would take 1/4 of my herb crop before they found a happy home. But there is something so amazing and gratifying from growing plants from seeds. Those of you who have done so before know what I mean [this does not include the time in 2nd grade where you put some lima beans-eww-in a paper towel and Johnny stuck one up his nose...].
And so it began: filling dozens of peat pots and containers with seedling starter, making sure that small fingers [both mine and my kids] did not destroy or lose seeds, and constant watering to ensure the life locked in the little seed would grow. Between four to eight weeks later, little seedlings showing their cotyledons began to emerge. Oh, joy!
Once the weather became [and remained...] spring-like, it was time for a major transplant event to give my little loves a happy home.
Want to know what I planted?! See my next blog: How does my garden grow-2011
One love,
Sara :)
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