Spring: Not Quite Yet

As T.S. Elliot famously said, "April is the cruelest month., breeding lilacs out of the dead land, mixing memory and desire, stirring dull roots with spring rain."

Again, "sort of spring." We've had a few warm days, but most still begin with starting the fireplace. There's a routine now. Wake. Drink coffee. Come downstairs and shovel out most of the ashes from the fireplace. Start a fresh fire from the remaining coals. Start the process of watering the plants in the greenhouse while the fire takes. Fire up the old Oral B...and go on with the day.

Friday of last week, we cooked ourselves. When it is in the '50's, it's a little too warm for a fire, but a little too cold not to have something warming the house a bit. It was great that the house was 78 degrees upstairs, but not so great when we tried to get to sleep.

There is a certain desperation to the garden this year. Last year, we were content to grow some "halo" crops and sort of back away from the whole survival aspect.

Last week, the white supremacist terror group that has taken over D.C. decided, in their wisdom, to start a trade war by declaring tariffs on the whole world. This act, typical of the brain trust out there, crashed the economy.

We responded by purchasing extra staples (beans, rice, flour) and putting the vacuum sealer to use. Apparently, vacuum sealed staples can last up to three years or so. We just need to be sure to rotate. (We were much less careful when we bought a pile of staples when the COVID-19 pandemic started. Absolutely similar feeling now.

New food safe buckets arrived. We purchased extra cases of toilet paper (made in China, as it turns out) and canned goods. We bought extra running shoes. New clothes. (Fortunately, April is a three-paycheck month at the salt-mines, so there's some extra cash around.) 

Last weekend I upgraded our go-bag. I kept thinking of those poor Ukrainians with suitcases bulging, and noticed just how weak the zippers looked on the bag we've kept for years. So we got a new, Frost River medium utility pack. No compartments to speak of, but I'm absolutely certain that there are no zippers to fail. Another addition made possibly by this bag's slightly larger size: we are now able to put a small tent in it. I will need to do an update on the go-bag at some point. 

New go bag on the left (unpacked). Old on the right. 

This summer we're going to try to go a month without visiting the grocery store. Just stored staples and veg from the garden. 

We shall see.

Partially filled seed starting pot

Fully filled seed starting pot.

Today, I put into action Phase II of my cunning plan for the more advanced tomatoes. I planted them in 3" pots that I'd filled only about 1/3 full of seed starting mix. The idea here is that by filling in the rest of the dirt today, I'm saving myself having to prick the seedlings out and transplant them to larger pots.

While this still sounds pretty good in my head, a nagging voice at the back of my mind says, "If this works, why have millions of gardeners, worldwide, always done it the other way?" Perhaps this plan is not so cunning after all. Time will tell.

We watched the movie version of The Grapes of Wrath with Henry Fonda last night. Not the world's happiest film, but it did help to set the mood for life under economic collapse. At the same time, it underlined our stunning good fortune to date.