If you’ve been around since I started this newsletter back in long-ago April 2021, you may recall me stating in a previous post that I fancy myself a farmer.
Admittedly, I’m not a very good farmer, but I try.
Well, this week has been the busiest one of the spring so far at my “farm”. Monday was spent putting the finishing touches on two raised beds I built (the one I mentioned last week that I built out of random yard junk, and another one that I built out of salvaged wooden pallets.) Tuesday, I weeded my in-the-ground garden. Then we had a delivery of five cubic yards of garden soil, and I spent a couple of days filling beds and transplanting veggies into them. Today I planted out some new ramps in my ramp patch. Where I live, ramp patches are notorious targets for pilfering by unscrupulous neighbors, so I won’t be divulging the location of mine.
And I’m still not finished. Sweet potato slips still need to be put in the ground, and the corn (sweet and glass gem), and winter squash. I still have a few tomato plants that need transplanting. I’m going to try doing them upside-down in 5-gallon buckets this year.
Another farming conundrum on my plate is the management of chickens. One of my hens keeps insisting upon laying her eggs under my house. I had to have a serious discussion with her about the importance of adhering to company policy, and this was not the first such chat we’ve had. I’m considering putting up a sign in the coop: EGGS ARE TO BE LAID IN NESTING BOXES ONLY! For that matter, I probably need a sign at the back door, which often sits propped open on hot days: NO ROOSTERS IN THE HUMAN COOP! And another one over by the blueberry bushes: DO NOT EAT THE BLUEBERRIES!
I expect the workload to die down a little bit starting around the middle of next week. Then the gardens should be fairly undemanding until harvest time.
As for novel progress for this week, I am behind where I would like to be. I have a three-scene chapter planned, but I’ve only written a scene and a half as of yet. The busy gardening week has cut into my writing time, a bit. Plants must go in the ground by a certain date in order to bear fruit, but words can be sown at any time, and as long as you’ve given them good soil, as long as you keep intentionally sowing them in their rows day after day and week after week, a novel will eventually form.
Which is really a pretty way of saying that Chapter 3 might be a couple of days late. Better a couple days late than a couple pages short, I always say.
Thank you for reading!
I promise I won’t make you wait too much longer for Chapter 3. In the meantime, if you’d like to chat with me about anything, drop me a line at starrohara@substack.com
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