Dirty Feet

Happy Gardender

I pull my socks off to reveal feet covered in dirt. I look down at my toes with a grin on my face. Dirty feet are a sure sign of a good time in the garden. I’m about to have an Epsom salt bath to release my sore limbs that I can begin to feel ache. The knee. The hip. The lower back from bending over. My arms twinge from moving bricks around. I look forward to my gym session tomorrow to counter act the stiff muscles I know doubt will have. Over the last three days of glorious weather I have managed to have at least two hours in the garden each day. What a treat!

My work in the garden has meant that I have finished clearing the bed that is my big project this season. The last signs of the greenhouse are gone. Most of the weeding is done. I have a clear space. A clear space that I then spend time laying out brick borders which define the beds and paths that will make up the flower beds. I move the chairs to what will be the seating space, make myself a cup of tea and then just sit. I find I am looking at a different view of the garden, how wonderful. I feel relieved because despite the garden still looking a bit of a mess, I can see that it will work. In the coming months as I return to these seats with many more cups of tea it will become a very wonderful and happy pollination friendly space. I can’t wait to share it with you as it grows.

The warm weather over the weekend, meant it was a weekend of firsts for the season. We had our first lunch outside, a hearty soup made the day before which always increases the flavour and taste. The, as mentioned, afternoon teas outside in weather that is still warm at 3pm. The sunlight still present after 5.30 pm. The lawns even got mowed, a sure sign that we are moving on from winter. All these little crumbs, these first, mean so very much. It was also the first check of the bee hives at home. I cried off lifting bee boxes after all my many brick moving, so I donned my bee suit to watch as the other half nervously opened the hives for the first time this season. I have noticed over the past few weeks when I looked out the window from the kitchen table a steady stream of bees flying up and out of the hive. Seeing this sight always makes me happy. As the hives are opened a scent wafts from the hive. This is one of my favourtie smells. The smell is honey but there is something else. It is a smell of warmth perhaps, a sense of life, of productivity. It is the smell of an active and happy hive.

After three days in the garden, I am naturally hunger for more. I had planned to start planting but decide to put it off until the next day. The weather of course has other things promised for me. It rains and my plans are put off until another day. The wanting more time in the garden is not just about the satisfaction felt from finishing a task but how time in the garden makes me feel. I am not sure if it is coming out of winter but my time in the garden reminded just how good it makes me feel. Just how true and natural I feel within myself. My smile is freer and the indoor tasks that make up daily life, the dinners, the washing are all little bit easier to do after some time in the garden. I guess it balances me out. So much so that when warmer days return later in the week I juggle my day so I can sneak more time in the garden. Stay tuned for more updates next week.