Monday, April 25, 2011

Update: Spring is Raining Deadlines and Tornados

"...the sky is a poisonous garden tonight..."
-Concrete Blonde

Thanks to everyone who signed up for the Culinary Herbalism course! I've only begun the first lesson but I know I'm going to love working through it.
Right now I am swamped in deadlines: Herbal Roots zine issues, an article for Rhythm of the Home, a handout for a presentation on Wednesday about Herbs for Children, trying to get soap made for the upcoming market season (starts in less than 2 weeks!!!) and so on. Then there's everyday stuff such as dishes, laundry (which is hard to do while dodging thunderstorms and tornados), cleaning house, milking the goats, tethering the goats (again when weather is cooperative), schooling the kids....deep breath!
So, unfortunately, something has to slide and right now it is the Herbal Ally year. I promise to add another challenge as soon as I can, I am not abandoning it, nor have I forgotten about it! If I can get through this next week or two, I will hopefully reach a plateau and can breathe a bit....hopefully.

The garden that has been planted so far is doing well. Onions are sprouting, garlic is filling in, strawberries are blooming (it is SO hard to pinch those blooms off but I'm determined to do it right), and lettuce is growing like crazy. Unfortunately, so are the weeds. And with the rain, I haven't been able to get out there regularly to weed.
We've had lots of crazy weather lately. A tornado ripped through the St. Louis airport Friday night and did lots of damage. There were also several communities damaged, we lucked out and it went south of us. There's more of that predicted for tonight.
This spring has been cold and wet and gloomy. Unusual and that's the description I'm seeing all around the country from others who pay attention to that sort of stuff. I have a feeling that this is going to be the new norm unfortunately.
I have a ton of planting to do: 10 flowering trees (2 each: crabapple, dogwood, redbud, hawthorne, goldenraintree), 3 each: hawthorn, witch hazel and crampbark plus 8 cranberry bushes. The cranberries will be the most intensive since I have to amend a bed for them with peat moss, sand and other additives. I'm looking forward to having fresh cranberries though!

1 comment:

Gina said...

Wow, those photos are incredible. I thought about you when I heard about St. Louis.

Over here to the east, we've had buckets...um, no tanks of rain and it just doesn't seem to want to stop. I fear Louisville is going to float on down the Ohio, Mississippi and out to the Gulf. I guess you being closer you're area will have a head start! :)

Shawn and I went to see the Decemberists last night at a lovely outdoor amphitheater and the band kept commenting about the sky and rain! Part of the audience was exposed! We were under (another) tornado watch until early this morning.

I fear you are right in this is probably the norm and it will probably stay weird and unbalanced all year. I saw on another blog about someone's fear that they will "be taking it on the chin" in Mississippi when hurricane season begins in June!

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