The Quieter Goals of My Life

involve lavender...

                    Here's thanking God for making lavender the new steel magnolia . . .

Let the Season Begin!

   

      Lavender or taxes? Lavender or taxes? It was a grueling day inside my head as everything in my body wanted to be outside playing in dirt. (Today we had more dirt than usual.)
     Thanks to my new second driveway (for work crews and farm equipment I'm now salivating to purchase)  mounds of topsoil were pushed aside in huge heaps across my yard, (which, I gotta tell you, is an eyesore to some, but a beautiful thing to a farmer.) Drive by calls alone triggered half dozen neighborly calls asking "What cha gonna do with all that dirt?" (I must admit, we've got some beautiful soil here on the bend...And beautiful neighbors who have shared tractors and seeders and front-loading devices while I try on for size just how much tractor I can handle.)
     In other words, just another day in the neighborhood.
     The good news is, we got the winter crops underway --asparagus, beets, broccoli, kale-- I'm going for the iron! Rosey was with me all the way...What the rains don't cover, the dog slobber should. (That dog does love a good garden.)

   

And Then There Was Easter

   

     Not often do you get a "two-fer" when it comes to birthday timing... As if it's not exciting enough to have been gifted a new goat baby (tiniest baby ever...born to a mama so tiny I had a vet on standby in case we had another caesarian on our hands) we dodged that bullet, so with crises averted, I had good vibes and cooperative weather for both Easter birthday weekend, leaving me wide open to spend this second day any way I chose....(Life doesn't get much better than this. I say "Grab 'em while you can.")
     With full moon behind us (we don't plant on those) the signs were right for transplanting ...Twas a great kick-off to the 2015 garden.
     TWO days of good stuff...(Rest. Rejoice. Recover. Repeat.) ...enough to remind me that life and calendars and all things "Jupiter aligning with Mars" don't get much sweeter than this...
     So with morning friends departing and afternoon friend arriving, the new garden begins... starting with lavender...this time, on the highest spot on my place and with sandy soil for their little root-feet to spread...(only this time, further apart) My last batch grew all over itself because I placed them on 3 foot centers according to the tag stuck in the baby plant's container; now I know better...5 or 6 foot centers folks...That's my advice...My first lavender seedlings quadrupled in the first year (when they were barely supposed to double...I was told this stuff takes 3 years).  But in placing my plantlets a little too close, with my watermelons a mere 12 feet away (when I should've given them 20 if not a mile) well...everything overgrew itself~ Lesson learned. Here's sharing so that you may be spared. May my miscalculations mean financial savings for you.
     At the end of the day, it was a lovely birthday/holiday/Easter of a weekend, ending with lavender fields forever...(Ok. My actual field here is not exactly the picture I have posted on my fridge, but we believe in visualization...Viva Provence!)