Sundays

Sunday mornings may be my favorite.  It's easy to discount weekdays, because, well: work.  And Saturdays are often just as good as a Sunday, but Sundays have a magic all their own.  Let's just chalk it up to less commitments and less shopping hours in the day.  It's the last day of the weekend before the work-week cycle restarts, and I for one am trying to make the most of it.  And to me, that means getting in as much R&R as I can, doing things that are regenerative to my spirit.

That doesn't always work out in entirety.  Sometimes I must squeeze in a task or two, like today.  Today I need to spend some time over at my parent's house where the food is being stored (not enough space here) for my daughter's high school graduation party in two weeks.  We need to season, patty, and individually freeze hamburgers.  We're also preparing some "chicken on the stick", so those need to be skewered as well, and frozen.  

But other than that, I'm not quite sure how I will spend my day... but I do know who I will spend it with: spaceman of course. <3

The backyard is our refuge, so I'll probably look to see what other things I can tackle in order to spend some time more time out there.  

Right now we have 4 yellow cherry tomato plants and 6 collard greens in individual pots, plus 6 plastic "egg cartons" with seeds.  We're kind of late getting those started, but we figure, better late than never.  And besides, if they don't do well (the seeds) then we can always just buy some starter plants at the store.  But... if the seeds kick ass, then that's avoided.

One of my egg cartons is full of giant sunflower seeds.  I plan to plant the majority of them out front in the landscaping near the house.  I hope they grow up to be magnificent giants and awe the neighbors.  Maybe some will think it gawdy, but I will take great delight in those "flowers".  Mine will just be bigger than the average joe's. hehe  

There's also a few bare spots this year in the hedges around my back yard fence.  Those hedges are rose-a-sharon that are easily 10 ft tall.  The giant sunflowers will fill in the spaces, reclaiming our privacy in full.  I hope to get my crap together enough to learn how to grow some rose-a-sharon from seed or whatever other method I discover is best.  Then by next fall or spring (whenever I learn is best), I'll plant them where the sunflowers were.  It won't help with next year's privacy, but... I can only do what I can do.

Spaceman has determined our plans for things we want to grow is too big for even our new enlarged garden space, so he's going to get out the tiller yet again and extend it. lol  Since I started gardening, that garden (I have a few) was 10 ' x 10', and he has already increased it to 20' x 20'.  But yeah, it's going to have to go bigger.  We want too much!!  Last night we were discussing it and he said (again), "We need a small farm."  This conversation forked off into several tangents, as per our usual.

To me, gardening is the one thing I can do that the oppressive debt-driven society has no effective control over.  And it makes dents in so many other aspects life that are damaged and not thriving well at all.  Gardening does these things that motivate me to do it:

• Growing chemical-free food - as much as possible - depends on neighbors practices, too - mine don't seem to spray their lawns thankfully.  Can't avoid chemtrail fallout.
• Eat healthier - It's fresher, in season, can be preserved, stocked. And it gets me eating more veggies than processed, boxed, frozen, or slaughtered food.
• Saves money - not buying it from the big-box store
• Be active - gardening is hard physical work sometimes!  Beats slaving away on machines while watching TV at the gym.
• Recharges energy - garden barefoot or just being outdoors, either way, there is something about being outdoors that is spiritually regenerative.  This cannot be understated.
• Produces vitamin D - just being in the sun helps your body produce it's own Vitamin D.  Vitamin D is said to be a huge help in keeping cancer at bay.
• Apocalypse skills - yep, I'm just going to say it. It's only partially in jest.  My son says this gardening skill stuff is what has earned me a spot on his zombie apocalypse team, it was iffy before that. lol  Joking aside, come some 1929-like famine, farming skills, which are currently generations lost, would make the single most largest difference in quality of life for a while.

That's just off the top of my head.  I *really* enjoy gardening with my best friend and love of my life, spaceman.  He's so much better at it than I am, he says "from experience".  And that is what I lack, being from the suburbs and him being from Appalachia.  Certain traditions have been kept through the generations in areas that are more traditional in expression.  Appalachia, though also changing, has retained some of that knowledge and skills of living closer with the land, and thankfully passed it on to him, who is passing it on to me.

Someday in the next however many years... we will move to an acre or two of good land for a small homestead.  Cannot wait!