Grasp The Hoe

It’s the end of winter and cabin fever is rooted deeply in me. Leaving me unmotivated, slow moving, and scatter brained. My appetite decreases and the desire to take care of myself and my house withers. Seasonal depression is a symptom that affects many of us. At the start of Fall my soul is divided. The temperatures start to wane and the hot summer temperatures drop, leaving me feeling refreshed and relieved. Then there is the reminder that winter and all of its darkness is bounding towards me, and there is nothing I can do to stop it.

Trying to shake off seasonal depression I get outside as much as possible. This last weekend was do or die to get the garden ready. Starting with a burn, we lite that thing up! Burn baby burn!

First we lite the ground on fire using some dryer lint to get it going. We had sprayed a ring of water around the outskirts to ensure no fire hoping occurred. It’s like witnessing the end of a dark chapter, the fire crawls along taking out all the dry dead stuff. Eating away the rot that winter has left behind.

Then we gather all the straw, old cardboard, newspaper, and dead vegetation that didn’t burn and have one big fire in the middle of the garden. Adding some pruned trees from the yard to get it going strong.

There are a lot of values to ash in your garden. It helps to add some much needed nutrients to the depleted soil and kill off the larvae from old pests. It also feeds the soul, who doesn’t love a nice fire! You create life and feed it right in front of your eyes. It’s warmth begins to heal those winter blues.

Here is my blank canvas, waiting to be filled with food for me and my family (and friends because I always have too much). Plant a seed and watch it grow, then reap the benefits. It’s very fulfilling to me.

Time for some hoe work. Hoeing is hard work, don’t ever be fooled by the full body work out of some hoeing. My arms are sore, but it feels so good to be outside and moving, I welcome the burning muscles. Blisters from grasping the hoe tightly form on my palms. Waking up my sleeping muscles I swing the hoe down to the earth, carving my beds and forming my rows. We do till the land to incorporate the ash and our compost, but not too deep. I don’t want to bring up all the weed seeds that lay dormant.

My mom always told me that peas have to go in before St. Patrick’s Day and if you are lucky enough to have it snow after you have planted them, it will make your peas sweeter. Well the luck of the Irish is on my side. It snowed just a bit last night and my peas are in the ground.

I’m shaking off this seasonal depression like a boss! Until next year at least. Gardening is not the most glamorous activity. I find the oldest and funkiest clothes because inevitably I will be filthy by the end of the day.

Daily Prompt: Grasp