Gardening With Children: Ideal Reality Vs. Real Reality

Like every other sick-of-winter person on the planet, when the seed catalogs start appearing in February, I start planning. I make detailed lists and charts and diagrams of everything from the seeds I want to buy to which plants will go where and why. I am all up in it. 

And then, I wait. And wait a bit more. Because spring doesn't really arrive here until May. Sometimes June. Last year, I planted my garden on May 2, when it was 80 degrees, and it snowed on May 3. And while I'm waiting, I revel in my Ideal Reality of family gardening. In this annual indulgence, I visualize a Norman Rockwell-esque day of garden planting with my peeps. Laughing, giggling, playing with earthworms, chatting excitedly about anything and everything. Tired and exhausted at the end of the day, we lounge around with Flavor-Ice (them) and beer (me). It's the quintessential "mother-and-child gardening together in true harmony" picture. 

Enter Real Reality. When I have a plan, especially one that includes lists and charts and diagrams, everyone who is not on board or who has no intention of following my directions, needs to steer clear. I am a big 'ol ball of OCD and anal retentiveness. The peeps just want to dig for buried treasure and dinosaur bones. They have no need for straight lines, organization or directions. And I have no patience. So ... about 15 minutes into our day of gardening, I am alone. And I am in heaven. La la la. 

While the kids and I might not make the best planting team, we harvest like beasts. As we tiptoe through the vines and narrow rows, peeking under leaves and snapping off veggies, we laugh, giggle, play with earthworms and chat excitedly about anything and everything. Yep, harvest time is rather Norman Rockwell-esque. 

On a related note, check out Amber Dusik's post on SheKnows. It's called Gardening With Young Children: What Could Go Wrong? Amber is the author of Parenting: Illustrated with Crappy Pictures, and the writer and illustrator of the blog Illustrated With Crappy Pictures. And I am thankful for her every day because she reminds me I'm not alone. 

Wherever you are, whatever you're doing ... Keep it Real

Deja Vu a la Job

I made the decision not to return to my current teaching position next year. I'll finish out the year, and then I'm done. I have no idea if the school would have even "invited" me back, but now I don't have to worry about it. The school is not a good fit for my teaching philosophy or my family. With that decision behind me, I can slow down the tap dance I've been performing since August. But, that decision also puts me right back where I was this time last year, which is engaged in a fruitless job search for a teaching position. I've been toying with the idea of chucking the classroom altogether and going back to editing/publishing/writing. We'll see what turns up.

Last month,  I posted about the stack of books I want to read this year (see Stack Attack). I'm happy to say that I've made a nice little dent. I finished the Hunger Games series (awesome) and the book about starting a hobby farm (addicted). I just started The Scarlet Pimpernel. Love it. Such rich, intelligent writing. Now that my position as middle school librarin has kicked in, I'm fighting the urge to delve into YA lit. As much as I want to stick to my pre-set list, I imagine I'll be feeding my YA habit here and there. Such good stuff!

As for my kind of sort of New Year's resolutions, I think I'm doing pretty well sticking to them. I have not let my job be my life. Yes, I still let it stress me out, but not to the point where I was before Christmas. I'm also exploring my interest in gardening at a deeper level. I subscribed to Urban Farm magazine, a sister publication of Hobby Farm magazine. I bought the cutest kitchen composter from Uncommon Goods (one of my favorite online stores). Instead of buying all of my veggie garden seeds from the local home improvement store, I'm buying from a seed company! I'm going to have purple carrots! And chocolate cherry tomatoes! And chocolate mint in my herb garden!

I'm still struggling with being in one moment at a time and with being nice. But I keep trying.

Wherever you are, whatever you're doing ... keep it real.