Today, I was determined to be more productive than I have been over the last two weeks. I have kept busy but not really productive and when I feel like that it ends up bothering me.
But, even today, I’ve gone from task to task without much oompf. This morning I worked on a curriculum idea I had using some of my monarch life cycle photos. Then, after lunch, I worked on annual gardening ideas. Over the last two springs, I have gotten my plants from a young (high school) student of horticulture who owns his own greenhouse business. I feel good supporting his efforts and the plants are some of the healthiest I’ve ever purchased. This year I am behind on giving him my order, but I took care of that too.
Then, I sidled up to my husband who happened to be sitting next to me at our kitchen counter and asked him about making me a decorative stool for our front porch. I found one by searching Wayfair but it was plastic and much too expensive. But, it was in a style I wanted so I pulled up the photo and asked if he could make me one.
His answer was “yes, of course, but out of wood, right?”
“Of course,” I said, but I added a caveat, “I want to paint it lime green!”
Painting wood in our house is sacrilege! And, I am sure those who know us personally are laughing right now because they know it’s true. My husband makes beautiful fine furniture out of solid wood. Painting is not really what you want to do when the wood is a thing of beauty itself. But, it sounds like he is resigned to the fact that sometimes a pop of color is what is needed in a piece of furniture. And, this stool – well, it will be on our front porch to do just that – provide a pop of color!
After lunch, I started some seeds. For all my horticultural knowledge that I’ve amassed over the last few decades, I have to admit that I am not great at seed starting. Last year was my most successful year and I credited that to no longer having indoor cats to snoop around the seedlings and disrupt them.
I have also given up on starting vegetables. I am a flower person. There is no shame in that – especially these days when having an abundance – especially native ones – help our pollinators. So, today I just planted basil, butterfly weed, marigolds, and sunflowers. No tomatoes, peppers or eggplant (my favorite).
I’ll buy those from our local feed store up the road if we can finally venture out by the end of May. At least I can feel good about supporting a local grower and not a big box store.
Realizing today that Memorial Day weekend is less than 8 weeks away made my seed starting possible. But, by the time those 8 weeks pass by, I’ll have another high school graduate! That fact strikes a little awe in me right now!
I think I’m antsy because I know how really busy I should be and I’m just not.
The Apples in My Orchard 
It sounds like you’ve gotten a pretty good start on this year’s growing! I love the idea of painting wood being sacrilege. I used to be the same way with the furniture I build (and I still love a nice clear finish), but sometimes paint just gives you that “pop of color” where it’s needed.
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Yes! Well, my stool will me made of maple. We’ll see if I/we have the guts to paint it. I’ve already considered some other options like painting a metal garden bench instead! Time wlll tell! It’s funny that people who work with wood tend to really appreciate its nature beauty!
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