It's been a rough week here at Something to Mulch Over. Plenty of somethings I wanted to mulch over to be exact. Nothing major, just a series of mini-crises to be perfectly unmanaged as I managed to do perfectly. Events expected and events unexpected. Sometimes life just happens when you least expect it.
Which got me to thinking...BC and I have a pretty amazing life and maybe this would be a good time to take a look around and appreciate that. We even got some rain last week so I had a few spare moments to take it all in.
I'm not good at that. I'm a go go go type of person. I stay up late, sleep late and then complain there aren't enough hours in the day. I over-schedule, work hard, dream hard. I have BIG BIG BIG plans all the time. I'm getting my permaculture design certification, my edible landscaping certification, my master naturalist certification and I hope to open my own business next year designing small native plant gardens. All of that must happen right now! Now. Now. Now. Chop chop!
And we're still working on completing the food forest, the hummingbird gardens, the tall grass prairie. And even though we're just trying to give back, Mother Nature is being obstinate and not providing the rain we need, so I am still spending hours standing at the end of the hose. (Actually, I sit on a five gallon bucket and research permaculture on my phone while I'm watering...Thinking outside the box!)
Today was a day to get grounded. To touch base with the ecosystem we've created here. To observe. Take notes. Touch plants. Hear the birds. Count monarch caterpillars. Chase butterflies. Watch bees. Pet cats. Take pictures of clouds.
Determine which direction the wind is coming from. And just take a good god damn look around because I haven't in a very long time. And that's just sad.
It was a good day to observe the meadow blazing star mingle with the heliopsis and the butterfly milkweed. Evidently native plants are not introverts. I can't relate...
It was a good day to take pictures of a dandelion after a rain storm.
And it was a good day to pick blueberries, black currants, red currants, raspberries and enjoy spinach and fresh herbs from the garden.
It was a good day to take a walk-about with BC and talk about how we just started this journey two years ago this month and where elderberries are now standing eight feet tall was nothing but turf grass.
I chuckle at the sand cherry that has a fear of heights. It's eight feet around and 10 inches tall. I feel you, sand cherry, I feel you.
We have grapes to harvest this September, pears slowly ripening, blackberries blooming, lingonberries blooming, gallons of wine to make, and the veggie gardens are thriving. The hummingbirds are visiting the anise hyssop. The bees are drunk on coneflowers. The swallows sing incessantly from their perches above the birdhouses. A deer considers our yard her own personal buffet. Pollywogs are squirming in my water trough. Lightining bugs take full advantage of the fox sedge along the tree line. Frogs have built homes under the ninebark. I sometimes can't take it all in. All the noises. All the life.
We've made this happen and the awe of it all astounds me.
It's a good life and I'm uncharacteristically sentimental and grateful to call this place home.
Even though we will probably be moving within the next year, even after all the work we have done here. But that is a story for another time.
For now, I am content. I am grounded. I'm letting the magic happen. I'm characterstically staying up too late and can't sleep late because I work tomorrow. I'll complain about being tired and that there still aren't enough hours in the day. That's just who I am.
But for today, I just enjoy this life. And it is more than enough.
I'm grateful. And I'm humbled. And the rain is falling softly on our tin roof...
Σχόλια