Sunday, May 10, 2009

A Very Happy Mother's Day

Even before I became a mother, Mother's Day has meant something important to me: Time to plant my vegetable garden!

Conventional wisdom in the mountains of Western North Carolina is that a hard frost could happen up to this very day, and I have learned the hard way (snow and ice in late April wrecking havoc on my tender blueberry blossoms!) to respect this wisdom.

Yesterday my son and I went to the Farmers' Market to buy seedlings for our garden. Of course I wanted tomatoes galore and we chose many new-to-us varieties based mainly on their delightful names - Mountain Magic (a red slicer, known to be disease-resistant and prolific), Sungold (our one repeat because we all love them so much - they are small and golden and so sweet my son calls them "chocolate 'matoes"), Taxi (bright yellow), Orange Glow (also promising to be hearty and productive and don't they sound like they will be a lovely color?), and Green Zebra (bright green and striped).

We also got some lettuce seedlings and lots of marigolds. I'm hoping to find more greens (spinach, kale and chard) and cucumber starts at the market this Wednesday, but if I can't, I can still start from seed and be all set. (Did you catch that: I'll be at the market this Wednesday to pick up our first CSA box! Hooray!)

This morning my son got decked out in his gardener's garb and we made quick work of the planting.



It is such a happy thing to see all the little plants in their new home.

This week I am rejoicing in being a mama: nurturing young life is a profound joy.

2 comments:

Colleen said...

I love your blog!!I stumbled upon it via Christine Kane's blog. I heard about Christine Kane from a mutual friend of ours, R, who lives in Santa Cruz with her lovely husband and two children, and their cute curly dog.
Anyway,I love your blog. It inspires me and picks me up when I need it. I also love the planned meals for the week, the enthusiasm for life and gardening that you have.
I can relate to so much about you-the birth connection (I was an L&D nurse for 5 years, and now teach HypnoBirthing and work in the public schools as a nurse.
Look forward to more of what you have to share!
Colleen

Stacey said...

Wow, Colleen! Thanks SO much for your enthusiatic reply and your kind words!

I love Christine Kane's blog - and to think that you came from there to here is very cool!

It's amazing how inter-connected our lives are! (I adore Ruthie!!!)