This past weekend I sat in the sun. I was yearning for the effects of naturally obtained vitamin D. We have yet to place all the furniture on the deck or the porch, but the wrought iron straight-backed chair and an end table used as a foot stool provided just the comfort I was looking for in a lounger.
The same crazy yearning and reaching is happening inside the house as well. I have posted before about the geraniums I now place in the kitchen for the winter. Right now they are blooming like crazy, and their faces are smashed against the window glass to capture the magic of daylight. My son and I noticed that every branch on both plants is leaning strongly to the south.
But what appeared today was over the top.
Our household orders produce from an organic cooperative. It arrives every week and is exactly what we requested a few days earlier via the computer. Some weeks we order well and eat every morsel, and some weeks – like last week – we have one item that just sits in the produce drawer. Languishing. Lonely. Cold.
Broccoli rabe was the latest victim. By the time we reached for it on Sunday to cook it, it was past its prime. A little yellow. A tiny bit slimy. So we pitched it into the bin of uncooked and organic food scraps that houses our cast-offs until I can get them to my mother’s chickens. The feathered ladies pick over it after we scatter it in their yard and days later provide us with the best eggs ever.
Today I came downstairs and the broccoli was reaching for the sunshine and BLOOMING! I was stunned and immediately told the dog all about it. These blooms fought their way through a pound of carrot shavings and the skins of three beets. They had to make a 90-degree turn to reach their goals. They worked hard. It stuck with me all day because they really were acting just like every other living thing in our home.
They wanted back outside, they wanted everything the sun had to give, and they wanted to bloom and stretch.
. p.s. You can read my geranium blogs here and here. Both have a little bit to do with plants….
Our counter top is growing sweet potatoes and onions right now too.
In your recycle bin? That’s what blew my mind. These suckers have fortitude, Casey.
– sloane
What is that cool recycle bin? Love it
potatoes…..i just gave up and planted mine. honest.
this week. i am going to have potatoes to eat in about 2 months.
P. Claire:
Now, if they were sweet potatoes, we would be talking!
– sloane
My onions and red potatoes have sprouted too. It amazes me that the seem to know it is Spring. The bowl is no where near a window. Nature rules!