Gardening can be aspirational but other parts of life may take greater claims and starting too big is easier than efficient harvesting. I have only an idea what it would feel like if I was much good at preserving food. I take some pride in my composting. And yet, there I'm also putting minimal energy into it - not turning. Just cover and allow time for natural processes.
Abundance feels better than scarcity. Vegetables available for me give me a good feeling. They serve an important purpose even if I have to put them in the compost.
I'd never have so many flowering perennials if they were entirely up to me. We had a standard joke at the wholesale florist when faced with too much to do. We would look earnestly into someone's eyes and say, "But, flowers are my life, not." I can even imagine myself saying that with the yard coming into full peony bloom. The biennial sweet williams are opening, also. Siberian iris. Even have a rose or two. Meh. Just wait for those golden daylilies
.
It's DW, she can get the weeds outta them. I can hit the perimeter of those flower beds as I'm passing by with the mower. Surprising how it does feel like a contribution but in no way am I gonna keep those beds weed-free. And, DW won't either - wading in, on a Sunday morning for an hour at a time. I have my efficiency standards, they are good enuf even for ornamentals and as Groucho Marx said, "Those are my principles, and if you don't like them... well, I have others."
With a world of weeds surrounding that distant big veggie garden, it is enough that the garden plants maintain a competitive edge and the weed situation doesn't worsen, season to season. I do okay and trust that I'm appreciated for my efforts by the neighbors there. There are broad standards in that neighborhood -- from killing everything green over acres of ground to the people yet to even mow their weeds by June!
Steve
we are each other's
harvest:
we are each other's
business:
we are each other's
magnitude and bond. ~ Gwendolyn Brooks
