Monday, December 26, 2011

Christmas, cooking and crops.

Today our Christmas tree will come down, after a lovely month of enjoying its pretty lights.  As much as I love looking at all the bright ornaments, I am ready to get the house back in order so it can be clean and organized by the New Year.  I'm also done in the kitchen, after a long month of cooking for people during Thanksgiving, Chanukah, and then Christmas.  We won't starve the next few weeks, but my meals will consist of easy-to-make dinners that don't leave me standing in front of the stove or preparation counter for hours like I have been doing.  


Out in the garden, the cauliflower, lettuce, onions, scallions and carrots in our four raised planter beds appear healthy, but are growing slower than ever.  This time last year I was already busy harvesting and freezing our bounty from out there. Maybe it's the below-freezing nights (far more than are normal for us), or the fact that we've had crops in those beds pretty consistently now for a couple of years. The soil may be a little low on nutrients.  I'm not sure of the culprit, but after we harvest what's growing now, I'll throw some grass seed down, then plow the new green blades into the soil to enrich it while giving the beds a few weeks' fallow.  Guess the biblical mandate of a time of sabbath, rest, or fallow is good for everyone and everything, including the earth itself.  There's a time to create, and a time to rest.  

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