hard work + early morning gifts

Sometimes all the morning chores can get to be a drag.

After weeks of no rain and high temperatures,

there's no choice but to do extensive watering every day.

At least once a day.

Our morning ritual is something like this:

rise up.

stretch.

grind beans and brew.

feed dogs.

close windows.

draw blinds.

then grab a hose

and water

water

water

for like 90 minutes.

sometimes longer.

I get nervous that I'm draining the well...

And in the midst of that nervousness,

I also feel so grateful for this water

that comes from the depths of the earth.

Without it, we'd have no harvest.

After days and days of hose in hand,

I definitely feel like I am wading in the water.

I have become my astrological sign.

Aquarius. 

The Water Bearer.

While I was watering this morning

I began humming this great rendition

of Wade in the Water 

by Eva Cassidy.

Our CSA farm manager, Chris,

told us that farmers call watering

irritation

not irrigation.

Because it really is so much hard work,

most people have no clue he said. 

It is so labor and time intensive to keep things alive and thriving

when their natural environment does not provide optimal conditions.

(Sounds like a great metaphor for my day job with kids...

watering, watering, watering.

But also weeding, mulching, fertilizing.)

It's a great metaphor for therapy

or any mentoring relationship with a child.

And just like with all of that hard work,

the hard work in the garden also gives back. 

Sometimes the reward is just watching something grow.

It all comes around.

Today had some early morning gifts, like this bumpy surprise:

A ripe pickling cucumber

I found while watering

it's tangled green trellis of vines.

And a warm egg

left from one of our girls

early this morning.

Just look how big they're getting!!!

So we decided to see

with the help of our handy dandy new scale just how big they are

and to our delight, we have some XL eggs!!!

Thank you, girls!!!

Great work!!!