First good day of sunshine was squandered on things other than farm work, all of them worthy in their own right, but unttimely given the weather opportunity. 2008 medical paperwork, radio interviews and child fetching get in the way of the best intentions.
I did transplant hundreds of onions, started by Jane right after the new year. I also got the rest of the tomato seeds over to Ruby, who owns the nursery down the street. She and her brother were commenting on why we needed both kinds of Abe Lincoln tomatoes. I guess the notion of compare and contrast was lost on them.
16 year old Hopie has been trying to come up with a new song to sing with the jazz combo while the band is on their Disney trip, which I have graciously agreed to chaperone. 14 hour bus rides with hoards of hormonal teenagers are just my thing.I should mention that this is not the first time I have chaperoned the band to Disney, so I speak with a voice of experience. Hoards of hormonal teenagers. 14 hours on a bus. Taping doors shut in the hotel to prevent any middle of the night forays, lest the hormones get the best of them. The teenagers, not the hotel doors.
Strains of Billie, Ella, Diana Krall and Jane Monheit have been gracing our home for the past week as she winnows out each song for singability, key and ease with which the combo can solo on the changes. The winner appears to be “Them There Eyes”, which has all of the above attributes, plus lyrics appropriate for a 16 year old to be singing in public.
As I transplanted onions and fennel in the big garden, and cleared out old leaves and partially degraded burlap sacks from the rows, these old eyes spotted Spring’s first reward in the next row over- a few stalks of asparagus! They were slender and purplish green, thanks to a hearty does of Jean D’s worm enriched horse manure. Jean and I share many things in common. We both have 3 children, we both got goats, and then promptly got rid of them. We both have had chickens on and off over the years and both of our husbands are scientists. We’re both tennis and animal nuts and can count on each other in times of joy and sorrow. She is an accomplished horse woman with two horses and 5 acres in a suburban neighborhood, just around the corner, and has that rare ability to make everyone feel as if they are her best friend. The piles of manure created by Sally and Starbucks are in great demand among our gardening friends, and just the right things for a bed of asparagus.
I broke off three 10 inch stalks and ferried them into the house where I gently steamed them for 22 seconds in the microwave and added them to a salad of store bought (not for long!) romaine, a few leaves of red oak leaf from the pot out on the porch and a handful of lentil spouts I had been babying on the counter for the past week. When asked to look closely at the salad, the other set of old eyes in the house commented on the nice spouts and thought the green stalks were beans. I told him to look more closely at them there. Ah ha! Asparagus!
We finished up the dishes listening to Hopie singing in the shower “Them There Eyes” while I brushed up on my Mama Cass imitation at a friend’s request to sing Dream a Little Dream for her birthday party on Saturday.
http://www.we7.com/track/THEM-THERE-EYES?trackId=392461&m=0
