This will be a bit of a different post. It will not feature anything from or about my garden. It will still feature plants. Just not mine. All spring long I've been inspired and motivated by the beautiful trees and flowers I've seen while walking through my neighbourhood in the West side of Lansing. So I decided to get up early this morning with camera in hand and take a walk in order to get some pictures of what I've been able to see every day.
At 6:30 in the morning, I was generally one of the only people out. There was a car here and there but mostly I was on the streets alone. By 7 or 7:30, this wasn't as true. And I kind of started to feel a little like a stalker/intruder by snapping all of these pictures with people starting to come out and possibly notice me. For that reason, I didn't get a complete and comprehensive sampling of the neighbourhood but I did my best. I also tried to leave out as many identifying information or markers as I could out of respect for my fellow neighbours. Also, these may seem a bit repetitive and probably are. But when I came across a sight that I deemed beautiful, I took a picture. This will mean there are a lot of repeats of the same tree or flowers but that is OK. Is a Tiger any less beautiful because you saw one at the zoo last week? I think no.
Today I was able to spend some time alone in my garden as Maggie took the kids out to dinner with their grandma. It was rare and felt a little alien to me to not, at the moment, be directly responsible for a child. It was nice. I was able to weed around some of my plants (pictures of those in a minute) and also plant a second round of a few vegetables (details on those soon too). But what it really allowed me was time to think. Maybe that is part of why I like gardening so much. It gives you the chance to reflect and in my mind, it is also a reflection of life itself. The different cycles and growth, the need to weed out things before they drag you down and the overall connection to the Earth.
But today I found myself thinking about my down time. It is always nice
but also bittersweet. We all need our mental breaks. But I also know
that in the blink of an eye, the kids will be grown. I hate to feel like
I'll miss anything. These kind of thoughts got my mind turning to music
as I feel music can speak to us in so many different ways. I've never
heard this song before today but I found it and felt it spoke to what I
was thinking. It is called "Let Them Be Little" and is written and
performed by Billy Dean. I'm not always a fan of country music and under
normal circumstances I might have just glossed right over this one. But
it was sappy and that's right where my head was/is. The title for this post comes from a line in the song.
I'm not sure if I mentioned in a previous blog that my cayenne peppers I tried to start from seed never sprouted. But they didn't. I believe the seeds were too old. Because of this, I went to Horrocks (local Farmers style market here in Lansing, Michigan) with the intent of getting a pepper plant or two since it is getting a little late in the season for starting the peppers from seed again. Look what I found.
Danger Kitty.
So that should be fun. I don't really have a good track record with keeping the hot oils from peppers off of other parts of my body. I may have to get a full body suit for that Ghost Pepper plant.
I mentioned earlier that I put in a second round planting. Those seeds are my three different carrots (Paris Market, Chantenay Red Cored, and Purple Haze), two different beets (Burpee Golden and Chioggia), spinach, and Easter Egg radishes. I would take some pictures but... really... it just looks like dirt right now. Not only indistinguishable but also pretty boring.
Not boring (at least not to me...)? Actual green plants! First up, carrot seedlings.
Carrot seedlings are notoriously small. It's like a Where's Waldo of the plant world!
And now the beets! Beets are interesting in that their seed is actually a cluster of 3 to 4 seeds so no matter how careful you are about spacing them, you will almost always need to go back through and thin them as you will tend to have a few sprouts coming up in one spot.
Cluster of beets.
This is what passes as traffic signs in Gerich Gardens
Next are the Mini Purplette red onions.
These are the seedlings that were started inside and transplanted out.
And these are the same onions but from seed that I planted in the ground.
Lettuce check in with the lettuce... Funny guy.
Here is the Cos lettuce I transplanted out as seedlings
A closer look
Going to need to transplant some of these...
And Popeyes favorite...
Clearly this was before I had weeded
The radishes will be the first things ready to pull from the garden.
Look at all those awesome radish leaves
Last but not least, peas!
Ok, so I know that was a lot of pictures but I was a tad bit excited at all the growth. It can be attributed to a whole bunch of rain in late April followed by the beautiful weather filled with high 70's and low 80's for high temps the last week. It is the culmination of months of planning through cold winter days finally being realized. Next time I'll update you on all of the tomato and bell pepper sprouts along with some of the other flower/vegetable seeds I just started this weekend.
Remember... things go by faster than you think. Live in the moment and appreciate what has been given. It might be gone "faster than a flower blooms."
I always find myself the most introspective when the weather starts to
warm after winter. I'm not sure what it is that makes this so. Perhaps
it is the "growth" or "renewal" that occurs during this time. All I know
is that once the weather hits the mid 60's to low 70's you will be able
to find me walking in and around nature and all of Her wonderment's.
The
seasons first inward reflections hit me while on a walk with my son
this morning. With the high temperature today set to hit over 80 for the
first time since last September, I was poised for a walk. The call of
Mother Earth is at her strongest for me when she wakes up and judging
from the sights and sounds of the neighborhood, she is indeed waking. Being able to see all of the different colored flowers in bloom is something I treasure each year.
One of my favorite blooms are the ones that come alive on Magnolia
trees. There is about a week or two, usually in early May here in
Michigan, where they burst wide open and are far and away the most
beautiful thing in your line of sight. The bright white or pink blossoms
demand your attention as soon as they come into view. Move a little
closer and they will pull you in by the nose as the fragrance created is
rivaled only by that of the lilac in my opinion. As of right now, these
trees blossoms are just starting to open up. I am lucky as my neighborhood here in Lansing has a large amount of these trees.
Magnolia: Tree of the heavens.
Looking at the picture above you can only begin to imagine the smells and scent that one would inhale while standing underneath such a sight. The sense of smell has always been my strongest sense and so many times keys memories for me. The smell of spring/summer is one that I can't fully describe but is always one that resonates the most for me. It is the smell of flowers, dirt, fresh cut grass and so many other little things mixed in together to create a bouquet for the soul. I was fortunate enough to catch this today. Or rather, it caught me. I even cut my walk short to take the boy to Horrocks in search of some flowers to put in my own yard. If you are not aware, Horrocks is a wondeful farmers market type of store here in Lansing with a large greenhouse full of different flowers, fruits and vegetables. Normally, I'm not one to buy flowers. I prefer to grow them on my own from seed. But my impatience got the best of me as I am tired of waiting for my flower seeds to pop up and half of my lawn look like just plain dirt while others have all of these wonderful bulbs and flowers. I ended up purchasing yellow pansies and blue violas. As soon as Jack went down for nap, I went out and planted them in an every other one border pattern around my yard just to serve as something pretty until the rest of the flowers grow. Please ignore the rest of the barren landscape. Hopefully in a month or twos time there will be a lot of wild flowers growing where there is now bare dirt.
Another thing this time of year makes me do is think about my own life and how I am living it and how I want to live it. I recently made a choice to live a healthier lifestyle. I've eaten fairly healthy for the last few years but now I've decided to keep more track of what I am eating. I've also been going to the gym regularly coupled with other activities and exercises such as walks as previously mentioned and also gardening which is surprisingly effective and can make you break a good sweat. I have also cut out alcohol, more by necessity than choice as I have ulcerative colitis and alcohol doesn't do good things for it.
I am approaching 30 and am a father. These two things will get you thinking about your future life and how you want it to look. I have decided to be as proactive as possible about my health. I'll spare all of the thoughts but a nice walk is good for thinking of the bigger things in life and sorting out what matters the most.
I'll need to cut this short as my son is currently waking up FAR too early from his nap. But as a cliff hanger I will say that my next post will have some pictures (if they upload!) of some of the crops/sprouts. Until then, enjoy this weather, enjoy life, enjoy each other.
