This morning I could not keep my work churning without Beyonce's All Night.  Then in the afternoon I was jamming to Your Loves Whore by Wolfe Alice on repeat.  Then on the drive home I Need You by The Beatles came on.  The sun was shining and it's warm again and I passed the same house that I passed yesterday and the same man was out in his beekeeping whites and I felt like Spring was really here.

I know you're not grammatically supposed to capitalize the seasons, but growing up with my sister I grew to rebel that particular grammatical rule.

It's spring, I should be back in the garden.  I should be preparing for my bees and my garden and my house.  I hate this Nor'easter crap weather.  I'm afraid I'll end up losing all my new plants in the next week.  Nothing seems to agree with them and I was only able to keep them outside for two days before it got cold again.

If I'm being honest, I don't think I'm going to walk away happy on Monday.  I think once the splint comes off I am going to end up back in a cast.  I want my life back, I want my wrist back, I want the sun on my hair and the moisturizer blocking it on my skin and the dirt everywhere and the flowers blooming and the leaves reaching out and the fruit/vegetables ripening.  I am so tired of being careful.  Impatience.  Discomfort.  It's not positive, it's not filled with love or light or secret smiles or squeals or human touch. Courage is there to make you brave.  Strength is there to help you endure.  So I will pursue what makes me strong and hope the rest will get a little more in line.

So I signed up for this Gardening with the Masters class on Cutting Gardens 101, when the only flowers I grow either turn into fruit or struggle to stay on my orchid.  (Although my Valentine's Day orchid is going strong.)  What I need is a class on caring for orchids.  Next week there is a class about gardening and that's what I'm really looking forward to, but I get anxious easily so I want a test run.  Plus I need to relax and find the light in my life and maybe this will take me down a positive path.

I watched the season finale of the Magicians and it is so different from the books and often times not that great, in different ways that the books ended up being not great, but man do I love them both.  The books can be really depressing, so I don't see myself rereading them this summer, but I want to rewatch the series.  There's something about it that lights me up inside.  I'm hoping it will help me come up with something to bring to this writer's group.

Hmm, I wonder what is appropriate attire for a gardening class and a girl with a giant bandage wrapped hand.  Let's find out.

Labels: beekeeping, gardening, inspiration, Master Gardeners, spring, The Magicians

I just got a call from the University of Georgia Master Gardener Extension program to survey my thoughts on their seed library at Hickory Flat.  They obviously haven't seen my instagram.  Books and gardening, cats and dogs, books and gardening, and oh yeah, a cute little baby!

The seed library is very exciting though and more people should try it!  They have this cute antique looking cabinet and trays of seeds that you can take for free!  It is a little overwhelming because you have to take full packets and at the end of your harvest you are expected to return a full packet of seeds. It's not just vegetable and herb seeds either, there are also flower seeds from several gardens!

It is a great way to encourage the long time tradition of gardening and farming in this area and to acquire seeds that will grow well in these conditions.  I am a huge fan!  I've had a huge pepper harvest this summer and, although my plants did not come from those seeds, I'm going to see if I can share them in the library as well.

UGA also has some master gardener classes they offer through the library.  I've had to miss a few great ones due to work, but I am so excited to start going.  They have a class in September on saving seeds.  They have a class tomorrow out in Jasper called Build a Better Hive.

I'm not sure why it took me so long to realize I love gardening, all of it - planting and seeding and attracting bees and fresh vegetables.  I'm even interested in bees more.  Like I want to build a little build house out of a log for some Mason Bees.  I want to start small, but I'm so intrigued.  There's this one honey that has a lavender taste to it because the bees are next to a large field of lavender.  That's so cool! I want to try that.  I want to see.

Anyway,  here is an article from when the seed library started that goes into more detail:
https://blog.extension.uga.edu/cherokee/2017/02/checking-in-on-the-seed-library/

Labels: bees, building bee hives, gardening, instagram, listening to The Beatles channel on satellite radio, mason bees, Master Gardeners, seed library, seeds, UGA