Good Sunday to you all,
Today has been a good, spring inspired day here. We took the boys to the annual town Easter Egg Hunt that is put on at our local soccer field. It's really more of an Easter "Gather" since the eggs aren't actually hidden, but there are thousands of them laid out on the fields for the free for all-ing hoard of children to run out and pick up. It was a lot of fun and a great time to see others in town that have been spending the winter tucked away in their respective houses. We got to meet two of Maestro's friends and catch up with some good family friends as well. It was a blast. And to see all the kids just smiling and running and gathering, well, that was a treat. The police department does a great job putting this on for the kids, it's a good time.
A couple of other things had me feeling an extra spring in my step as well. One was that I was out in the garden bright and early on this blustery spring morning. I was adding soil to the beds and just checking out the overall condition of things our there. If you remember, last fall I spoke about the mouse tunnels we found under the compost spinner. Well, they branched out and I found 3 balls of grass that were obviously their little homes throughout the garden. Kinda fun. The thing that I didn't necessarily love doing was pulling up all my strawberry plants. I let them get completely out of control when the runners started producing babies, and the bed was so overburdened that last year the strawberries didn't taste very good. Some of them were highly perfumey tasting and some were just downright bitter. So, I decided to just dig them up and replant some and do a better job policing those babies. I will miss fresh organic strawberries this year, but it had to be done. Hopefully next year I'll have a good crop to be proud of.
When I'm working in the garden, I usually get to musing about things in my head. Lots of ideas, thoughts and sometimes dialogues come to me. I do some of my best working things out in my head when my hands are deep in the soil. It's my church really, as is the rest of nature. I would be a person who would most certainly go insane if I could not have access to soil and nature. How do people living in high rise apartments in big cities do it? I don't know, and never want to find out.
So, I was raking the grass around the beds, generally neatening up the joint when I bumped into a board on the ground. Now this board has been in the garden since early last spring, pretty much in the same spot. I don't know how it got there, most assuredly one of the boys left it there from some adventure they were engrossed in. I've moved things over this board many times, it's in the corner of the garden plot. Never once did it occur to me to move it. Strange, because I'm a person who likes things in their place. Not much in my world works that way with the three men I call my family, but in my own surroundings, like my office, or garden I need things to be orderly. So, it's kind of strange that I never thought to move this board before today. But, I decided to pick it up and when I did I got a glimpse of a whole little world unto itself. I saw some dead grass, mud and lots of bugs and things. I spent a good 5 minutes examining the little world that existed right under that board that I never knew about. One of those moments of musing that are very cool to me. To make me connected to a bigger (and smaller!) world around me in just an instant. A snapshot of reality if you will.
I also had to take a run to pick up the eggs and milk at the farm. Sunday is the day we get our allotment for the week. The boys have dubbed this run "Getting Brownie's" as you'll remember Brownie is the cow we get our fresh milk from. When I go to get Brownie's, I always love the ride. It's through a neighboring small town and brings me back to my hometown and the beauty of fields and woods and peace. I love this old farm and the barn. I love old barns anyways, especially ones with animals still residing in them. The quiet of mornings, the hay underfoot and the gentle crrruuukkk, crrruukkkk of a chicken as it peacefully goes about it's business. Like they are having conversations with themselves, it's fun to watch. I love the big old beams, the smell of well tended animals and hay mixed together. Unless you've experienced this joy, I'm not sure you'd understand the thrill it provides.
When I got to the farm, there was no one around. But, I got my blue tub filled with quart jars, we buy 1 1/2 gallons of milk a week and a dozen eggs. Since I really do need to get some 1/2 gallon jars and have not as of yet, found the ones I need, I use quart mason jars. I walked up the flagstone pathway to the front door of the house and when I got there found a cooler on the porch with my name on the cover. I opened it and there was my milk and eggs for the day. I knelt on the porch and transferred the milk from their 1/2 gallon jars to my quarts. I took the full egg carton and left my empty one. In the empty one, I tucked the money that I pay for these these bits of heaven and left it inside the cooler. As I walked away from the house, my heart was singing. This is the kind of life I want to be living where the farm owner leaves me my fresh milk in the cooler when he's not home and I in turn leave the money for his product and hard work. This kind of transaction is honest. This kind of transaction shows the trust we have in each other. This kind of transaction is exactly where I want my world to reside.
It's been a good day here at Casa de Peaceable Kingdom.
Wishing you chicken conversation and spring smells, ~Peacemom
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