TINY STEPS... TINY MILESTONES... AND A TINY GARDENERTime seems to be moving slower, but then again, there are days when I wake up and it's suddenly four o'clock in the afternoon five minutes later. It varies. I look out on the garden and forget how small things were two months ago, which really feels more like four months ago. I was browsing through photos of the patio back in January and was astounded to recall when it was dusted with a powdery coat of new snow, or when the raised beds were under constant insulation under row cover fabric. The days of waiting for spring were filled with practicing planting with our daughter using her kinetic sand and some silk flower foliage from the dollar store, intermingled with making marmalade and combatting illness in the deep winter. Searching for crocuses, bundling up and braving the rain, petting dogs and going to the farmers market (for which we are so thankful! A year round market is hard to find). And, of course, the garden in sleepy infancy, with very frequent visits from the overwintering hummingbirds, ravenous in the cold, but still feisty and clever despite their challenge to stay aloft in the winter.
This all feels ancient, replaced with many days since also spent indoors, with the ever adjusting schedule and trying to make the days run as smoothly as possible. But it's my hope that I'll look back with the same nostalgia and gratitude on these days, which have seemed harder to comprehend, and feel that lifting joy in them, in the same way that I can look back on the deep winter days and smile, even though at the time there was a fairly excruciating feeling to many of them, particularly when we were all sick at once, the parents more ill than the child. Now we're approaching summer, a fact which makes me feel somewhat flabbergasted. It's all too tempting to ask how I might have spent the last two months differently. Some of it would be answered practically, for instance if preschool were still in session two days a week would be occupied by that routine. Weekly respite and spiritual connection found at church. Weekly library visits. I miss those. But all this time at home, without any choice but to be here and really truly fully BE here... I see how it's making new things spring up. All that prep to get our three year old interested and prepared to help in the garden have seen success. Some of our garden plants haven't made it, or done what we hoped (no snow peas... no blossoms, no peas. Apparently they have too much nitrogen when that happens... a lesson in mismatched companion planting). But we harvested that gai lan and enjoyed it at dinner yesterday, and that is simply an irreplaceable feeling. So we won't have peas. We can;t get everything we want AND there will be a chance to plant again when the weather cools down. And now, a recipe for those with a childlike heart: FAIRY SOUP: ingredients: flower petals- I recommend peonies, roses, daisies, buttercups, dandelions, lilies, hydrangea... anything colourful water a large bowl optional: dirt (if you want the "borscht" version of fairy soup add some literal earthiness moss pebbles pine needles pine cones It's not rocket science- this is a sensory play activity and it's meant to be messy and wild. I let our daughter mix up the flowers and spoon them into little containers to feed all the fairies. It is a lasting and fun water play activity. Be aware- the petals and other contents will begin to mold if left in a closed container. Have fun. Get messy. Feed some hungry fairies. And just enjoy watching either your child, or perhaps yourself, get lost in the process of mixing these beautiful elements.... One of the best things about the garden has been involving my child. Yes, it's messy and sometimes plants are roughed up. But cherishing something you work at together with your child is worth the occasional face palm. There has been lots of independence and self direction fostered from something as simple as watering and showing how to plant seeds. I'm shaky and need breakfast. This is one of the things about home isolation that has been weird- finding the daily routine and rhythm when time seems to stretch out. It's raining and looks like late Spring but the temperature is a little deceiving. I covered the corn planted yesterday in a large plastic cover, waiting for those warmer temperatures to kick in later this week. We are waiting on a lot. All of us. Once again to my left my little one sits on my husbands lap. Their easy conversation and adorable dynamic makes me smile. They're looking at toys in a catalogue online and she's making a birthday wish list. Our daughter turns four in a little over a month, a fact I also find to be nearly impossible. I'm taking in this day, like all of them, with mental and actual phone snapshots. Perhaps in a few months I'll share these contained moments as cherished time too. I think I will. My perspective continues to be honed and refined to take notice of the things that matter to my heart.
1 Comment
6/7/2020 09:55:48 pm
Thank you for the recipe for Fairy Soup. I know the Fairies that live around here are always looking for snacks. Sometimes in the morning I can see that they were nibbling on the pansies.
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NinaNoot- Christina (Nina) Wonglong time illustrator of whimsical things and a woman with a green thumb. Compassion and a desire to do something helpful compels me to write and share about gardening in hopes it may bring healing and delight to the souls of others as it has to mine. Check in every week on Tuesday for the unfolding story of my own garden alongside small growing project ideas, my successes and failures, and a sincere dose of hope in this moment of covid-19. Archives
August 2020
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