Rest and Be Thankful

Garden Chi

It is unseasonably warm here as it is most places in the US right now. I've been looking forward to Spring since December and suddenly spring is upon us and throbbingly green and almost past. Last year I learned the term "spring ephemerals", the woodland perennial wildflowers and other plants that emerge early in the season, bloom, and then give way to the hot weather species. There are many of these at the park where I walk (trillium, solomon's seal, blood root, and so on). I think of them fondly. They mark the time.

Asparagus doesn't qualify as a woodland perennial, but its appearance is equally early and exciting. After two years of patiently not harvesting the stalks coming up in our yard, this year I got to enjoy several spears. The plants have since rocketed into full growth (up to 4' tall already) and will provide some visual height and contrast in the summer garden. Other good friends thriving (or trying to bolt) in the garden now: chard, bok choy, mustard greens, collards-- all flowering now, a beet left to go to seed, and an overwintered rainbow chard. Tiny beets are coming up and I hope for nasturtium success this year. It is the best time of the year when the weather is warming, but not hot and there is plenty of rain and everything seems manageable and fresh. 

Worms

Yesterday I led an Urban Land Scouts workshop at Three Rivers Market in which we made vermicompost bins for home use. They're simple and affordable to set up -- two important criteria for me as I continue to develop the ULS curriculum.

In preparing for the workshop I was reminded of the amazing qualities of worms: they consume food equivalent or greater to their body weight every day, they have five hearts, they breathe through their skin, and on. Learning about the specifics of their lives and bodies heightens my sense of reverence for them. I also love that they eat my garbage. "Worms Eat My Garbage" by Mary Appelhof is the seminal introductory literature for those wanting to get started with vermicomposting. Appelhof's enthusiasm, meticulous experimenting, and semi-evangelical work promoting worm composting is a testament to the power of teaching.

In my beginning Tai Chi classes we begin the session with a bow to honor our teachers. I have many teachers for whom I am grateful. I think of some of them when I bow. Mary Appelhof died in 2005, but her legacy lives on in the literature she published and the people she taught. This is a good reminder for me as a struggle with my own trajectory and orientation in the day-to-day: what will you leave behind? When worms and associated microorganisms are breaking down my body, what essence or spirit of mine will carry on? Is it important to me that it carry my name? I do not often take this long view in my daily labor (making breakfast, writing proposals, drilling holes in worm bins), but it is comforting to me now.

skulletons

Thanks to my dad Russell Ries for introducing me to the Seven Kingdoms.

Quarrel

My mom pointed me to The Happiness Project and on that site I saw the quotation below.

“We are never so much disposed to quarrel with others as when we are dissatisfied with ourselves.”

-- William Hazlitt, "Characteristics"

Damn. Well that sure nails it for me. I have been most quarrelsome of late and slow to recognize the truth of Hazlitt's quotation.

Grateful

this too