Dark as night at 6am. It takes some getting used to. And just as things feel acclimated, June is here and daylight will appear around 5am, almost too hot by 9am. As a gardener I struggle with deciding whether to work in the early morning, knowing I will be the featured item on every blood-thirsty black fly and mosquito’s breakfast menu, or, do I work under the heat of midday, when the biting insects have retreated to shade. Now in my 43rd year, I’ve yet to figure out the best arrangement.
I promised myself I wouldn’t garden here this year. I plan to spend as much time as possible up north, preparing the land and soil for gardens and perennial fruit plantings. Realistically, I can’t do both. But yesterday I was in the garden looking around and I’m just not sure how I can resist. I mean, it’s right there. The seeds are in hand. Seems the two just need to come together and the details will work themselves out.
We are in the thick of hearing back from the colleges Emily has applied to and trying to make careful decisions about how she’ll spend the next four years of her life. It’s a lot. Ultimately, it’s her call, but of course there are several family considerations that come into play. How far away is the school? How competitive is their scholarship offer? Does she want the big university or the small liberal arts college? We are hardly the first family to find ourselves here, but certainly this is the first time for us. As with many things this year, we’re filing this under the “transition” chapter in our family story, and of course, we’re hoping to make wise and thoughtful choices throughout the process. It’s a very surreal feeling to place this process in someone else’s hands, a complete stranger no less. Homeschoolers are accustomed to making decisions about learning for themselves; applying to college requires a level of letting go that I’m not entirely comfortable with. But, the only option really is exactly that – trust and release.
Around the new year I shared that I see some changes to my work coming up. While I don’t know exactly what that means just yet, I have some solid ideas for new projects. Not so much for 2016, but looking ahead. These things take time. In a few days I’ll be opening registration for Whole Food Kitchen; the timing is right as many of us are feeling the seasonal shift and are ready for some inspiration in the kitchen. This is a beautiful workshop that has transformed many people’s relationship with, and definition of, eating well. It is a workshop about permission and freedom and acceptance. No dogma here. Come as you are. Be who you are. Whole Food Kitchen is a substantial workshop; if you’ve been meaning to take this class but never had the chance, this spring will be the time to do it as I will be retiring it after this session. While the bulk of the class is solid and perennial, I will be creating all new cooking class videos for this session (it’s sort of my quasi-live element to the program). Aside from making a few videos in advance to kick off our time together, my preference is to make most of the cooking videos throughout the session. This allows me to answer questions that come up in class, and generally steer the instruction in the direction our current class is leaning. Plus, it’s just more fun this way. Gives everything a more vibrant pulse.
Just a few things that are on my mind this morning. I better run now, the rain is winding down and I’ve got a few handfuls of peas to get in the ground. Resistance is futile.