Friday, April 22, 2016

Slow Spring, and Where My Muse Was Hiding.

by Katie






I've been in a funk.  Our winter has been long and dreary and persistent.  Spring is slowly arriving, but it's long overdue in my opinion.  We're in the April Showers phase, which is fine, but it was very recently snowing.  I have been feasting my eyes on the green grass-- I almost forgot how wonderful that color is.

But still, I have felt completely uninspired.  Everything is Ugly.  The inside of my house looks like a bomb-disposal site and the outside looks like  a junkyard.  I clean the same mess every day. I can't do anything about The Ugly because my attention span is about as long as that of a gnat due to the distractions swirling around me. I want to make a few gifts and participate in the contests, but I have  had ZERO ideas and my creative juices have not been flowing.  I couldn't even think what to make for meals, I was so out of ideas.

This morning, I thought, okay, I'm just gonna get out some stuff and start making.  No cleaning, no laundry, just Make Something.  So I googled around for a few ideas, got out this pile of fabric, and got started. I was sure it would make me feel better.





So I did, and it was good, but it wasn't quite going the way I wanted, and the kids were touching things and asking things, and cutting things I didn't really want cut.  The baby fussed to be held but tried to eat pins when he was up with me. Then they needed lunch.

I left everything on the table and Outside we went





Outside, there are a few things starting to bloom, I found.  My little peach tree has some pink blossoms.  I don't see any bee action in this rain, but the flowers are there.

A few daffodils are finally showing some sunshiny color.  Grape hyacinth peeking around here and there.





And I started to pull weeds, and I dug, got my hands in that moist, soft spring dirt. I pruned a few things I had missed, I planted a few more lettuce and spinach seeds (after the chickens dug up the new sprouts that came up before).  I laughed at the baby all covered in mud.  He tried to eat a jerusalem artichoke tuber and I teased him that he would get a belly ache from the "fartichokes."  And possibly best of all, we shared the very first fat, juicy spear of asparagus, straight out of the dirt.

We stayed out, puttering in the garden, the other kids were running around and playing.

And when I went back in, I knew what to make for supper!  I craved that wonderful cilantro sprouting up everywhere, so I made up a black bean and corn salad with things from the freezer and that cilantro and some onion greens and chipotle mayo.  I made some soft, fresh tortillas to put it on with spicy taco meat.  Then I put the baby in bed and sat back at the table where my project waited, and it all started to come together and the ideas flowed freely.

My Muse was hiding in the garden, waiting for me to come looking.


7 comments:

  1. So wonderful, Katie! That muse is always, always somewhere, even if you have to go dig it up to find it.
    Your supper sounds delicious. May we see what you make sometime?

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  2. Great post, Katie! (Like old times!) You brought the real life into Sarah's daily message here. Creativity in a busy life of distractions and the need for inspiration to *try* before the *do*. And we can't force it, can we? But creativity is a life necessity that brings happiness.
    So glad your spring is arriving! Ours is taking a break and the chilly weather is okay because it keeps me inside where there are things I must do.

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  3. Also, how do you have cilantro? Seed from last year in the ground? Or planted this year? The seed I planted a couple weeks ago is a long way from picking, and seed from last year doesn't survive the winter here? How is that since we are well far into spring and you aren't?

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    1. The ONLY way I get cilantro is to let it come up from last year's seeds. I always leave the plants to go to seed, and it does what it wants, usually among the first things to sprout in the spring. I love it so much, it's the one thing that always gets it's way in my garden! It never comes up when I plant it. It's very hard to have any when the tomatoes are ready for salsa. Usually a few more plants come up in the fall, if there is some rain and cool weather.

      Oh, now that I think about it, the biggest cilantro plants I have are in the "hotbed" that was covered with glass for a while, trying to grow lettuce. I guess that must be why it's earlier than yours.

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  4. same here on the cilantro... all goes to seed and comes up beautifully, but try to plant seeds and it bolts at like 2"

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