Quote of the Day: Margaret Atwood
“In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt.”
~Margaret Atwood
I certainly do. You know it’s been a good day in the garden when you step into the shower and see swirls of dirt running down the drain!
Barefoot or shoes, which do you prefer?
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The Road to ?
Mr Chiots and I are on our way home from Maine today. Last week we decided to take a last minute trip to look at a piece of property. As a result, it was quite the crazy weekend trying to get a week’s worth of work done. We packed everything, jumped in the car and set off into the sunrise on Tuesday morning. Yesterday we looked at a property we’re interested in and this morning we were up early and back in the car to head home. Almost more hours spent in the car than in Maine.
House hunting 14 hours away can be a difficult proposition, those photos on the internet just don’t tell the whole story so you have to look at things in person. I certainly can’t wait until we can close out this chapter of our lives and start the next. Change can be exciting and scary all at the same time, especially when you’re not quite sure where the road is going to lead.
What was the farthest you’ve ever relocated?
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Keeping Track
Jefferson’s garden diary, or Garden Book, is an enduring expression of Enlightenment. Begun at his boyhood home, Shadwell, on March 30, 1766, with the notation “Purple hyacinth bean begins to bloom,” the Garden Book concluded on Septebmer 15, 1824 with the completion of his vegetable garden Kalendar and the planting of the Winter spinach and Brown Dutch lettuce.
Peter J. Hatch from “A Rich Spot of Earth”: Thomas Jefferson’s Revolutionary Garden at Monticello
One of the areas I really need to work on as far as gardening is keeping track of what I’m growing and doing in the garden. I’m really good at taking photos, so generally when I need to know when I planted something, I look through my photos. That’s how this blog got started originally, it was going to be my garden journal. Garden journaling is something I really struggle with. I have a file on my laptop and I try to remember each evening to write down everything that I did, more often than not, I completely forget until it’s been too long to remember exactly what I did.
A garden journal can be a valuable tool, especially if you note the dates for seeding, germination, transplanting, harvest, fertilization, etc. I’ve tried a variety of methods, from a spreadsheet to a simple text document, so far I can’t seem to do any of them with regularity (besides writing this blog). I also have a binder where I keep old seed packets, interesting articles, and other garden related things.
At least I do have photos and I write planting/seeding dates on my plant labels so I can note days from seeding to harvest. Someday I hope to be diligent enough to keep a good journal to document the things going on in the gardens of Chiot’s Run.
How do you keep track of what’s going on in the garden?
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Quote of the Day: Dalai Lama
“Cleansing your environment is a ritual means of also cleansing your mind”
Dalai Lama
(found in The Wabi-Sabi House: The Japanese Art of Imperfect Beauty)
I feel this way about weeding, for me, there’s nothing as clearing to the mind as spending some time in the garden putting weeds.
What task do you find helps cleanse your mind the best?
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Historic Zoar Homeschool Days
Yesterday I met my sister and my nieces/nephew down in Historic Zoar Village for their homeschool days. The kids had a great time and really enjoyed the educational exhibits. The blacksmith shop was a huge hit, the kids were especially interested in that process (probably since there was fire involved). They also visited the wagon shop, the bakery, the garden center, the historic center and the dairy. Here are some of the things we saw:
The kids especially loved the hands on nature of the day, they got to use their hands for: kneading bread, wool rug hooking, using a manual lathe, making bird seed pine cones and so much more (head on over to Flickr for more photos of the day). Zoar has so many wonderful festivals and interesting things going on throughout the year, they also offer classes on everything from blacksmithing to weaving. Behind the Fences is their annual garden which I’d love attend, but I always seem to be booked for the date and haven’t been able to make it. Someday perhaps, I’ll just head down to walk around the town looking at the lovely gardens.
If you had to pick a manual trade to do for the rest of your life which would it be? I’m pretty sure you know mine would be gardening, though baking would come in a close second.
