Seeds have been bought

Yesterday night I got a reprieve from tugging along 5 kids while shopping. It's amazing how quickly things can get done sometimes. I dashed through Borders looking for some Solstice books (If you're looking let me save you time, they have NONE in the store), popped into Whole Foods for Emmy's Kwee-wee (kiwi) and wadermewen (watermellon), strolled through the turmultous Target for a couple odds and ends and then headed over to Home Depot to check out tomato stakes. The ones I have are getting quickly swamped by those luxurious vines.

I didn't find the stakes I wanted, they must have come from Lowes, but I did oogle their seed displays and, quite alarming for mid-December, potted veggies and herbs for over twenty minutes. It was a plesant surprise to see the three racks of seeds including a very nice Organic section. I had been buying my seeds through Peaceful Valley and have had good success with a fair number of them. The snap peas that are going nuts are from there as is the hearty cherry tomato vine. These seeds are either Burpee or Ferry Morse and besides not being able to resist purchasing those colorful packets of wonder, I get a military discount to boot.

I had to tear myself away from the robust 6-8" potted plants. They called to me "Crystal, you know you want to expand! We're already hearty and a good bit grown!" I envisioned heading out today and giving them homes in the empty container I have sitting all composted and ready for tenants. Somehow I resisted their lure. Which is good because we aren't out of the impending cold weather yet. I'm waiting to see how my garden does after that first hard frost rolls through. I'm assuming we'll get at least one this season. They'd also have been sitting on the porch for goodness knows how long since it's raining today and we're going to be busy this weekend.

I do realize you can plant in the rain. The issue is that I have lots of "helpers" that would want to join me and we're already fighting colds.

There is something about a packet of seeds that does something to that certain type of person. Perhaps its the anticipation of getting dirty while you work in the sun. Maybe it's something much deeper than that. A soul knowledge that roots us in the Earth, telling our bones that these little things can grow to sustain us. It's humbling really, to think at a point in time, before grocery stores and frozen foods, people relied wholly on their care of these wee beans. Amazing, really.

I picked up some old standbys; dill, summer squash, zucchini, bell peppers, butternut, canteloupe and lavender. Adding in some new friends to the mix; lettuces, carrots, watermellon and broccoli.Some I have grown before but some sort of garden plague had distroyed. We'll be starting much much earlier this season to hopefully pull in a crop before the summer comes. Next will be plotting and making new "earth" boxes (homemade ones) to house the upcoming harvest. We'll see how a year under my belt will benefit the coming crops.

November in Florida

Photo take by me in our front yard yesterday

While our Northern counterparts are getting their first snows (or maybe more than first) us sun bunnies are still melting in the heat. Coming into the second week of November, when people start preparing for the holidays that are synonymous with cold weather, some days we're still stuck in Summer. AC blowing, flip flops on, iced tea in hand. The winter beds in the garden are more like a second try for the year than bedded down bulbs. Honey bees are still buzzing even if the mosquitoes have slacked off their swarming. Snow birds are coming to roost.

I wasn't always a Southerner (and Florida's even further south than most consider "down south"). Nope, I was born in the sticks of New Hampshire. I vaguely recall non-flat land and snow drifts taller than a man (when you're five, that's really tall), crisp first days of school and wearing layers under Halloween costumes. Trees that boast colors other than grass green or dead brown and crunch beautifully under foot. When it's a high of eighty-three two weeks before Thanksgiving my bones ache for those blustery days.

In all honesty, I have absolutely no idea what snow is like for an adult. I've never had to shovel, plow or drive it. Heck, when it was too high I probably got carried so I didn't even have to walk it. I never have to think about preventing frost bite or stocking oil for the winter. Coats are used for more than a handful of weeks and boots, hats and scarves are survival tools not fashion accessories. I don't have to function under the bulk of gloved hands. Burst frozen pipes are almost an old wives tale; something that happened to someone else a friend of yours once knew. We have no snow tires or tire chains or need for remote starters. 

It's a little embarrassing to admit really. Waking up before the dawn, shivering and huddling under the blanket then getting up and the thermostat reads a balmy, (really not that cold) sixty-eight. Sometime during these few decades in the sultry heat of the south, I lost my natural ability to fight the cold. My body just doesn't like it anymore. Then again, it doesn't care for the blazing heat of the summer either, where if you're not getting burnt to a crisp in the sun, the mosquito swarms are eating you alive. When walking to your car leaves sweat marks on your clothes and opening the front door requires a good dousing of OFF. 

I'm not sure there's a place in the world where the weather is always that gorgeous spring day or that delicious autumn night. I suppose we have to take what we get and make the best of it. If it's not cold by turkey day, maybe we'll blast the AC and bundle up and pretend.