Spring!

 Tree buds

Strawberries coming out of dormancy

I think it's springtime in nothern Nevada!  I have daffodils blooming.  The weather is blustery and won't make up its mind, so there's my sure sign.

I've been itching to get outside and work on the yard and plant my edibles.  We've had gorgeous weather lately, but I got that miserable cold that's been going around.  The thing about being sick is you finally have time to do everything you want to do, but no energy/willpower to do it.  I've basically been camped out on the couch, blowing my poor sore nose and playing Plants vs. Zombies.

This weekend it is supposed to rain, so no outside time for me.  I do have seeds that I can start, so I'll work on doing that, probably.  

Or I'll work on the house.

Or I'll sleep.

(That probably sounds more likely.)

Happy Spring!

Reality vs. Spring Dreams

January.  

I always want to believe we are smack dab in the middle of winter.  But, in Reno, Spring won't roll around for another few months.  I'm itching.  Itching to garden and plant and see little buds grow into edibles.  I just went through a seed catalog and wrote down probably $200+ worth of seeds I'd like to buy.

Like this bad boy from Territorial Seed Company (http://www.territorialseed.com):

HOW COOL IS THAT?!  Seriously.

Or this:

It's called Longkeeper Tomato.  Apparently you can keep these on a shelf for up to THREE MONTHS.  WHAT?!  That means RIGHT NOW I could be eating a fresh tomato from the garden if I had these bad boys.

Needless to say, I need to whittle down my list.  But, I think I will buy these two, at least.  Because they are awesome.  

Seed catalogs are suuuper cool.  Who knew?!

I think I'm also going to try winter sowing.  Basically you use milk jugs, soda jugs, water jugs, etc. as mini greenhouses for seeds.  You leave the lids off and stick the seeds in their greenhouses outside.  Supposedly the seeds grow healthier and sturdier and you don't have to harden the seedlings off when it's time to plant.  Really, I just don't have the room inside to start all my seeds, which is why I'm going to try this.  

Which is awesome, since we've been waking up to this:

The Happiest Flower EVER

I take lots of pictures and each one has a blog post composed in my head.  I will never get to all of them.

In the meantime, I do want to share this one picture that makes me super happy.

And this:

And this:

Why I garden.

Source: 27.media.tumblr.com via Danielle on Pinterest

I had a realization the other night that I write on my blog for other people and, because of this, I lose the honesty I need so desperately in my life.  So this post will be honest.  And long.  But it will include pictures.

I don't know when my obsession with gardening first started.  It didn't start because I'm good at it -- I've killed enough plants in the short time I've been puttering outside to know that I don't really have a green thumb.  I think it began as just another house project, but somewhere along the line became something I feel timidly passionate about.  Timidly passionate??  Yes, that is possible.

Because, you see, when you garden, you garden.  I see a weed and I pull that weed.  I pull that weed with a vengeance.

It's simple.  Pull that weed.  Dig that dirt.  Smell that flower.  BE PRESENT.

There's no thinking about where I fit in this world.  No wondering where I belong.  (Jack would say, "You belong with me" -- oh I wish it were so simple!)  No thoughts of who or what is wrong or right.  No worries about who I am these days.  Where have my friends gone or, especially, my love for people and the world and God?  No thinking about my mission and dealing with the guilt associated with that.  No feeling awkward and lonely.  No feeling broken.  No bullies to cower from and no fear.

When I'm pulling weeds, I am pulling weeds.  Nothing else.

Oh, and yes -- I am almost 30 and I am unsuccessfully dealing with a bully.  He sees all my insecurities and rubs them in my face.  There's no escaping him, so I hope that the Crowther comes out in my and I can fight back.  But right now I don't know how to stand up for myself, so I crawl into my figurative ball and let him kick me in the gut over and over again.  I  wish Jack could save me, but in this case he can't.  I have to do it myself.

I am not well.  

I went to church like a good Mormon after my mission.  I studied and prayed and felt ... broken.  I wish there were another way to explain that.  So I stopped going to church and I stopped being a good Mormon.  Still broken.  Go figure.  There needs to be a reconnection with God.  I think I still believe in God.  In moments of desperation, I call out His name, so I assume I do.  I think about going back to church, but the people get in the way.  If it were okay for me to go and not speak to another soul and just listen and feel and be, perhaps I could connect again.  I've considered going to other churches -- ones who focus on the GRACE of Jesus -- since, after all, it is grace I am seeking.

I can't figure it out -- what happened to me?!

So, while I can't seem to find peace or rest or solace or an understanding of what is going on inside of me, I do know this one truth:

When there is dirt under my nails, I feel happy.

Source: northernsun.com via Danielle on Pinterest

It is simple.

I need simple.

I just can't help myself

If you think the number of pictures I post of my animals, Jack, or our yard is bad... just you wait until I have kids!

Signs of spring 

 haha!  What dorks!

Jake loves this.  You can tell... 

This captures Jonesie's true personality... always that dang tongue is out! 

We built a second huge raised bed, but this time we built a false bottom so we didn't have to fill the bottom with rocks.  :) 

Plum blossoms.  This is a pretty ugly tree, but for about 2 weeks it is gorgeous and smells divine.  

Worth it! 

 We've been having lovely weather!

 Look at those gargantuan tulips!  I've never seen tulips so tall!

 Craigslist took me to an awesome horse boarding place with mounds of composted manure.  We definitely took advantage.

On another note, notice how much greener our grass is from two pictures up?  Nature amazes me.  (Okay, okay... we did also fertilize in between these two pictures, too.  That probably helped.)

 My version of the pinterest yarn thing.  Downfall?  I have yarn bits all over my yard.  I choose to believe that birds are actually using the bits for their nests, but in reality, I'm not so sure...

 Chives from the neighbor!  (Am I supposed to do something with the bulbs on top??)

Raised bed with sheet composting... getting it ready for tomatoes!

 Raised beds in the front yard.  These will hold cantaloupe, watermelon, and strawberries.  They obviously still need to be leveled.  Also, our grass in the front is MUCH greener now, too.

Yesterday I cleaned up our rose bed.  It looks so much better now!  (Sorry the picture doesn't really show how much BETTER it looks now.  You'll just have to trust me on this.)

It has been a wonderful couple weekends.  Working outside does wonders for my mood!  

And soon, very soon, all the heavy duty work outside (shoveling and hauling rocks, mainly) will be DONE and all that will be left is buying plants.  CAN'T WAIT!  We probably won't buy all the plants I want this year, but at least next year there won't be so much prep work.

If you made it to the end of this post, pat yourself on the back.  There's a lot of pictures!

Apple Blossoms

I seriously took about 50 pictures of my apple tree today.  

Love Spring!