2023 Spring Activities

Shasta and I walk by this Amiot sculpture
almost every morning.

At start of spring I open a trench

in the ground. I put into it 

the winter’s accumulation of paper,

pages I do not want to read 

again, useless words, fragments,

errors. And I put into it

the contents of the outhouse:

light of the sun, growth of the ground,

finished with one of their journeys.

To the sky, to the wind, then

and to the faithful trees, I confess

my sins: that I have not been happy

enough, considering my good luck,

have listened to too muchnoise,

have been inattentive to wonders,

have lusted after praise.

And then upon the gathered refuse

of mind and body, I close the trench

folding shut again the dark,

the deathless earth. Beneath that seal

the old escapes into the new.

                    WENDEL BERRY

The transplanted tomato plants
in their 4" black plastic pots now sit on the heat mattress,
presently set at 80 degrees,
in the mini greenhouse Dwight built for me.
The target date to plant tomato plants
in the ground is Tuesday, May 09.

Calendula transplanted from the
large 6 cell plastic container
pictured in the greenhouse.

Comfrey for the herbal
vinegar I make to abate my osteoporosis.

The strawberry plant are blooming
and setting very small, green berries.
I love picking fresh strawberries
which often go immediately into my mouth.

Sisyrinchium bellum (Californian blue eyed grass)
Ceanothus (California wild lilac ‘Dark Star’)
both blooming now in the front of my house.

The garden at my house is beginning to come alive with flowers and new growth. It is just so exciting to see the product of my labor since Dwight, Shasta and I moved to Cotati. As I do a bit of this and a bit of that outside I have a big belly