Weekly Update: 3.15.26
The week began with surprising slowness — for me anyway. I twisted my knee last Friday doing literally nothing (I sat down wrong on a chair). I fully expected to be better the next day. Instead, I dealt with soreness all weekend and into the first part of the week. While I had looked forward to a week of bustling activity, instead I had several days of computer work with my leg stretched straight out in front of me.
It worked out for the best, as I found plenty to keep me busy. My mom and I finally started planning this year’s garden. I researched tomato and pepper varieties, and I ordered seeds from Baker Creek. While family members have ordered from Baker Creek for decades, it was my first time placing the order myself. I loved the opportunity to look at the reviews for each plant variety and see what people in my area thought of it. This year, I’m thrilled to try three heirlooms that were developed right here in the Ozarks — Ozark Pink and Millionaire tomatoes, and Ozark Giant sweet peppers. I’m hoping they will be better adapted to our wet springs and hot summers. All of the tomato varieties I chose are supposed to do better with splitting, which we really struggled with last summer due to all the rain we had.
While I researched tomatoes, our mom looked into which flowers we are supposed to start indoors this month. We always buy flats of spring flowers for our porch, but we would love to grow some from seed this year as well. She ordered packets of zinnias, cosmos, and lavender to start in March. She also picked up some random flower seeds to round out her order, as well as some herbs.
Once my knee felt better, I enjoyed getting out in the springlike March weather. I checked on our bees one afternoon, refreshing their sugar syrup.
One afternoon, Grace used sanding tools to strip two very rusty cast iron skillets. It was a bigger job than we expected, but the end results are promising. We plan to season them indoors on Monday when it is cold.
Grace and I worked on the exterior siding for a couple days. Our brother Jeremiah helped on his day off, making a lot of progress. We went through so many boards, Grace had to quit siding and treat more boards with Eco Wood Treatment.
Bonnie-Jean pruned our trees, both the weeping willow saplings and our family apple tree. She also taught our niece the process so she could prune her own little apple tree. We didn’t snap any pictures of the pruning, but Grace did get some lovely macro images of the budding willows.
Watching the hills turn green is one of my favorite parts of spring. The trees are still mostly bare, but grass is coming up everywhere, testaments of life where death seemed to reign. I’ve written before about the providence of Lent falling in the spring, when nature itself draws us into a place of renewal. We search for what needs pruned — whether from apple trees or from our own lives. Self-reflection and confession help us put away what is dead within us as we make space for the new life of the Resurrection. Lent is a time of penance and sorrow, as well as hope — as we face what’s wrong in the process of preparing for what is right in our lives. Today is Laetare Sunday — the half-way mark on the way to Easter. We are over the hump, so to speak, and I can’t wait to reach our goal.
