The soaring temperatures, mild winter and seemingly early onset of Spring brought about a delicious agony. I love to have my hands in dirt and paint (never together~ well not since that diorama I did about agriculture in 7th grade) and the soil has been workable nearly all year long. The delicious part is the sun warming the soil and buds swelling above me with the delightful sounds of birds siting their territories and nests. Rosie has become a good "farm dog" so I can have her with me whenever and wherever I am working and with the use of chain saws and felling of damaged branches she has a pretty good understanding of how to stay out of danger, although we are still very cautious. Donna has been reading and reviewing organic farming articles in preparation for the growing season and I couldn't be happier. I can practically taste the sweet crunch of raw peas out of their shell and feel the tomato juice slip down my chin as I sink my teeth into that first beefsteak tomato sandwich of late summer. My father and Donna never have enough corn and hopefully we will have better luck with this year's variety, "Gotta Have It". Last year's corn crop was terrible for numerous reasons.
The agony is more about a girl's long path to self-determination. I want nothing more than to please my father and nothing more than to put decades worth of gardening ideas and new knowledge into practice. Those are somewhat mutually exclusive goals. The older gardener wants things to stay the same. Crop rotation? Phooey! Reduce the square footage of growing area? Why? The younger gardener is a known perfectionist with multiple books and the internet in use for reference. Both love the sights, smells and tastes of gardening and that is where I will have to try and stay...on common ground.
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