Some sadness and Week 2 of the Independence Days Challenge

We had some sad news last week of a friend's sudden and very premature death. So Saturday morning was spent at a beautiful and sorrowful memorial service for Paul. We had a chance for sweet recollections, a few laughs and some comfort with our music friends. Paul was a loving and generous guy and he will surely be missed.

I find it interesting and very sobering how each death conjures memories from all the other experiences I've had of losing friends or loved ones. This news of Paul's passing was no exception and we found ourselves feeling a little bruised and tender for much of the weekend. Some solace, peace and energy were waiting for us in the garden and I spent a good part of Sunday and this morning there.


Things are beginning to take off in our garden. The raspberries overwintered well. And we've got lots of new growth and clusters of buds all over. We saw the first blooms in the strawberry patch so we're beginning to anticipate all the lovely bounty to come from there. The garlic has been shooting up and looks a bit like a gangly bunch of teen-age boys out there. I'm looking forward to the scapes that we'll be harvesting to make some nice early summer pesto. The peas are reaching for the trellises and the lettuce is showing true leaves so it won't be long before we have some nice fresh greens for the table.

So, here's our list for week two of the Independence Days Challenge:

Plant Something:
Weeded and cleared in the garden. Turned over a few beds. Planted chard, marigolds and more lettuce outside and seeded a large array of seeds in the basement...tomatoes, peppers, cabbage, eggplant, kale, broccoli, basil, flowers, etc.

Harvest Something:
Harvested our last asparagus - year two, pick a few. Also harvested our first rhubarb, more chives, some overwintered sage, thyme and oregano.

Preserve Something:
Picked some herbs for drying. Must set up some drying lines on the front porch or in the pantry.

Reduce Waste:
Used egg cartons and toilet paper tubes cut in half for seeding cells in trays. Much better than spending money on peat pots.

Preparation and Storage:
Uploaded Open Office to my home computer to put our food storage, shopping and inventory lists on a database for easy sorting, creation of shopping lists and storage.

Build Community Food Systems:
Talked with the green team at work about building some raised beds at the office.

Eat the Food:
Baked a honey rhubarb coffee cake with the first of the rhubarb, used some of the freshly picked herbs in a big pot of beef stock I made from beef bones frozen after a meal last week. Used the last of the asparagus with home-made sourdough and cheese for a delicious pizza.

What could you do this week?