The harvest has begun! Tomatoes (red, yellow and brown), cucumbers, lettuce, basil (red, green and our own marbalized hybrid), green peppers, chili peppers, habanero peppers, green onions, oregano, parsley....all coming out of our greenhouse at astonishing rates.
The greenhouse (also fondly known as 11. trolejbus - and some of our 5 and younger visitors have taken the title seriously, locking themselves in and taking "rides" this summer) has been one of KB's main projects this summer, and we are definitely enjoying the benefits of all the hard work.
But the "surprise garden" is happening at Jaunvitagas this summer. This spring we tried an experiment - KB plowed a small area of land, we threw some seedlings that had been sprouted at home into the gound, put up a quick fence around the area and decided to see what would happen. Our neighbors were convinced the wild boar would tear it apart. We were a bit discouraged when we saw how quickly weeds were coming up and even more discouraged by the massive heat this summer, and felt sure nothing would survive as no one was there to water, weed or otherwise maintain the garden.
Much to our surprise, this week we came home with five massive zucchinis that were buried among the weeds, uncovered two pumpkins well on their way to being full grown and many pumpkin flowers, and are unsure whether three very healthy plants are also cucumbers or squash, but are excited to find out. Seems us not weeding probably helped these plants not get dried out in the great heat and they thrived regardless. And though there are animal tracks circling the garden, the fence has not been touched.
Another great surprise was sugar peas. The ones in our greenhouse did not do well, but somehow, a good number of pea seeds got mixed in with a bunch of wildflowers KB planted at Jaunvitagas and we unexpectedly picked a bag full of peas as well.
Along with the regular mushrooming and berry picking, I've been quite busy in the kitchen with all the goods from the harvest. To me, a very good way to spend my last few days before school begins again.
I've decided there are two seasons in Latvia - hibernation and the active season. This makes blogging more of a challenge, because during hibernation, there's not much to write about and during the active season, well, I'm out there living it and there's not much time to write about it!
This weekend I'm sick in bed with a fever watching the beautiful weather through my window. I wanted to update the blog with photos, but the camera is out with KB who's more active than ever this active season with Laimins, the new (to us) blue mini-tractor. Sun up at 4:30 am and sundown after 10:30 pm makes for some very long workdays for him. I myself am trying to keep my head above the water with the inevitable end of the school year craziness coupled with a fairly intensive (or maybe it just seems so with all the other work right now) six-week online course.
Updates on the farmer front this year include two greenhouses constructed right here in Sigulda and a fenced in garden at Jaunvitagas. Photos to follow hopefully soon. Hope everyone is enjoying their own active season, no matter where you are in the world!
....the more in awe I am of how I choose books (or books choose me) at just the right times in my life.
Today's quote that went straight to my heart:
"Every time I thought that I was 'put together,' I realized that we're always putting ourselves together, gathering the world in, letting it sift down and form us."
(Calla Lily Ponder, herione of my current Kindle book)
Spring and winter are absolutely hanging out together at the moment. I'm trying to think of it in nice terms, it doesn't feel like they are fighting each other, but rather playing together, each taking short turns making their appearance. Even with the ever increasing sunlight, the choirs of birds and the unmistakeable smell of spring in the air, yesterday it snowed again. This added just enough snow to the many centimeters already on the ground, that the fence separating our yard from the neighbors is now completely buried. Thus, we have a temporary visitor, the neighbor's German shepard now lives in our yard as well. :)
The pictures don't really do justice to the mountain of snow, but in the photos, he is literally laying on top of fence. The good news is, hopefully there will be no more neighborhood cats peeing on our front door trying to get Mima's attention, now that dog smell is all about. The bad news is he found several plastic flower pots in our backyard (I think they were on our back mini-porch) and destroyed them all over our backyard.
And Mims also wants her fifteen minutes of fame, so here is a bit of photo evidence of her latest hobby: alternating between loving and attempting to kill her catnip lion, her Christmas present from her family in the US.
This is the yearly post in which I can officially announce that the sun has come back to us! The days have been noticeably lighter and lighter for a while now (that's what happens when you gain sunlight at the amazing rate of an extra four and a half minutes a day), and today I left the house for the train at a few minutes to 6am with a band of light on the horizon and when I got home at quarter to 7 the sun was just on it's way down in a beautiful sunset. Hooray! Nevermind that we still have centimeters upon centimeters of snow on the ground (not particularly in any hurry to melt), the sky has been blue for six days in a row now and the smell of spring was unmistakeably in the air. It's like reuniting with an old friend. :)
Fascinating. I was looking back through some of my posts from last spring (mainly looking for a quote about spring that I wasn't sure if I had already posted) and re-read last year's birthday post. I now have a theory. I don't do well with birthdays that have to do with the number 13. Last year's post outlined my difficulties with my 13th birthday and my 26th birthday (double 13). This year's birthday (the REVERSE of 13) was another one that will go down in the books as traumatic in the reflective department.
This is the first birthday where my number makes me feel old. Yes, I know, age is just a number, and I've always been more or less ok with the numbers (strangely minus the years that relate to 13, I am discovering)... I always get comments that I don't look my age, so as the numbers have gone up, I've always been able to "feel" young regardless. 30 was still an ok year for me - I guess because although there were things I had envisioned for myself by 30, it was still my 30th year so I still had time to make it happen. But now that this year has come and gone, I have a bit of reconciling to do with why certain goals are not met. This is the first moment in my life I've really come across this feeling of an actual possibility of running out of time in life.
In a way, moments like this are good, they put fire under you to keep your goals and dreams fresh. However, at the same time, it's a reminder to slow down and enjoy what you have and trust that everything else will work itself out. Thus also the quote about spring I was looking for.... I couldn't find the one I was actually looking for, but the idea is quite close to this:
"No winter lasts forever, no spring skips its turn."
Be patient. Be happy in the moment you have. Trust that everything will come to you in the right moment. Even if you think you know exactly when that right moment is (because quite frankly in my opinion, spring should be making it's entrance now!), the earth has bigger plans and it knows what's best. Spring will not forget about you.....be patient.
I think the quote I was looking for referred to the sun and the moon, and the seasons as well - they don't hurry each other along, they give each other their time and patiently arrive when it is their turn.
So, just as I can't dictate that spring will arrive on March 21, even if the calendar says so, I suppose I can't dictate certain goals just because my birthday calendar says so. I'll follow the lead of the sun/moon and the seasons, and my goal for this year is patience and appreciation for the moment.
As I come up on my birthday month (yes, I traditionally think of the whole month as belonging to me) here is my wish in this rollercoaster of a year. (So far this year has taken the cake in achieving extreme highs and recordbreaking lows in such an amazingly short amount of time - and I've had some significant rollercoasters in my time...) I wish that everyone who has been handed a basketful of lemons in 2010 (because I am not the only one) is able to make the most delicious lemonade ever (straight up or mixed with your alcoholic drink of choice). It's all leading to something good, that if for certain. I was just going to ask life to give us a minute to add some water and dilute those lemons for the lemonade, but looking at the wet spot in my ceiling and the river of a street with all this melting snow, fear not, water is on the way. :) More sugar, please. :)
(P.S. This is not to say life should never hand you lemons. I fully recognize their nutritional value and necessity for growth in life as well. Lemons are ok too, just sometimes the really big ones are tough to digest.)
