With all the uncertainty and chaos in the world right now with COVID-19, the one place which brings me peace and to the present moment is when I am digging in the dirt and watching seeds turn to plants. With less time traveling to work, running errands, going to doctor appointments and meeting up with friends, I have had significant time available to plan, prep and plant the garden this year. I completely geeked out spending hours using an online program to plot out all my raised beds with companion plants. This was easy to do because we had some cold days. I was so proud of my very strategic, organizational and planning skills. I printed out my plans and stepped out into my garden and realized I needed to make some changes. Some of my seeds had expired and I could not order them online. I had run out of physical energy in placing the soil in the raised beds and bark along the walking paths. I also decided I wanted to try square foot gardening in some of the beds this year. New plan . . . again! There are no mistakes in gardening, only experiments. This year became the 2020 Quarantine Experiment.
With the realization I needed new seeds and some help with physical labor, I quickly jumped on my computer. I tried to purchase new seeds and realized most seed companies were not fulfilling new orders. Every company was inundated. It was apparent, everyone was growing gardens this year due to the fear of a possible food shortage and job loss. This quickly sent me to the farm store, Wilco, with a mask on my face, 6 feet of social distancing, and a mission to find the seeds I needed. I found my desired lettuce seeds, potatoes, onions, radishes, carrots and chives. I also purchased several plants I should have never purchased at the time (I already killed them . . . tomatillos and tomato plants). That’s what happens when you get excited and accidently leave them outside in April in Central Oregon (too early and I don’t own a green house . . . yet).
The next task was to ask Krista to help me level the raised boxes (all made from reclaimed wood from an old deck), move soil into the boxes, create a few hoop houses, move bark into the walking paths and get one of the beds set up for my square foot gardening experiment. Easy for a Saturday and Sunday project, right? Not exactly. We were able to get almost everything completed, minus moving all the soil. My mind says I’m in my twenties and my body responds with, you wish. Needless to say, we both were exhausted and sore on Monday. Krista was grateful to be able to sit back in front of a computer and go back to work. I, on the other hand, attempted to do more work outside in the garden. My body awareness of pain and fatigue quickly anchored me to the present moment. I lasted about 20 minutes and decided I needed to rest for future plantings and for the next big project I had planned for the following weekend.