Forward and back

One of the ways I first heard meditation described was that it's like trying to keep a small child or an animal nearby: it will tend to wander away and you notice that and gently redirect it back over and over. Focus, they said, is like that: return your mind's focus over and over gently and persistently.

I think living a good life is also like this. Both day-to-day and over the long haul many things occur which pull us in directions. It's ok to go in those directions, to look, to play a little. It's vital to notice those movements and then to gently redirect the ones which don't serve the overall purpose. Over time noticing and redirection become more automatic.

Some of the things that want to pull me off-course are pleasant: the lure of relationships have always been a strong one for me. Some of the things that want to pull me off-course are less pleasant, either a fear of the path ahead or something that isn't what I thought it was like the cor viriditas situation. I do tend to be pretty single-minded otherwise, honestly. I don't like to do many things that don't align with my long-term path (was gonna say "goals" but it's less of an endpoint and more of an ongoing type of involvement with life I aim for).

This week has been a lot going on and now it's time to gently corral and steer back.

It's looking like the garden at the cor won't happen at all this year, which means all that energy didn't go towards anything. It also means I didn't put that energy towards this garden and there are many things - tomatillos, true potato seed, tomato variety trial, pepper grex, perennials, many more - that just won't get planted this year. I need to pull back my energy and focus on corn and squash and the saved promiscuous tomatoes - which I guess I could do a test row of direct seeded ones.

I've been meeting folks for butchering and for selling piglets every day this week. It's good to have money from that, it's good to have meat from that, it's good to have fewer animals to care for. However. Having an extra appointment every day is wearing on my ability to do things. This weekend I have a lot of time off from work and from going places. I'm going to avoid planning anything except being in my space and letting things happen.

The little piglet was in the house for two weeks (?) and honestly has made it kind of gross. It was good to get her cared for but she's out with a friend in the quail house. I can start returning home to, well, home. Things can go out into the shipping container, floors can get scrubbed, animal blankets and whatnot are already being washed.

Eating has been a little weird. I should definitely try keeping some things around that are very easy and also tasty. Maybe I'll do a pork version of the Mississippi pot roast or something.

The birds are still in my greenhouses and are supposed to be until mid-June. They need to be there but I also need access to my original garden around the white greenhouse. I'll confine them to the greenhouse proper so I can reclaim that garden.

I haven't made time to pick up that tiller at the co-op; I hope it's still there. If I do that tomorrow then my weekend will be more interesting for sure.

I've made and soaked my fava grex. I've made my squash grex. I've sorted my magic manna corn. Time to work on the other corns, the peas, the beans. Maybe time to plant a flat of cabbages and one of tomatillos, just in case.

I'm setting up a porch swing on the deck and a hammock in the garden, so I can have points to land when I go out there.

The path is being in my garden. The alignment is being in my garden.

Sorting out spring

Okay. There's a bunch of stuff I just have to take off the table from the garden this year. No true potato seed, few physalis, no eggplant, no okra, a bunch of things just didn't get planted because I thought I was moving mid-June. What still gets planted:

I'm going to try a spring barley, fava, sweet alyssum, and maybe storage beet and mixed green bed. It's late but let's see how it goes. The barley will be dango mugi and sumire mochi. The fava will be my big mix. I'm trying just a few beets in many, many places to see if I can't avoid voles finding one patch or row and chomping on though.

I'm going to try a few spring wheat patches(khorasan, ceres, prelude, and chiddam blanc, and honestly maybe a couple spring barley) with favas, sweet alyssum, and corn patches. Probably a couple turnip seeds in here, and of course some greens of some kind, maybe lettuces, and maybe a couple salsify seeds in there too.

I'll do my bouchard dwarf soup peas in with the gaspe patches for a miniature mix. Salsify and scorzonoa will be good in here, the first year's growth on that is quite blade-like and shouldn't compete too much.

My bigger corns will get squashes planted between the patches but not amongst the stalks. I am going to try pole and runner beans on some of the outside stalks. As always, some flower and greens seeds will go between them, and this will get the most of my relatively low-density turnip and beets.

Snap peas will mostly go along the fence, even though they're largely dwarf and don't need support. Tall dry peas will go along the other fence.

I think the fall cabbages, diakon, and melons may end up together in the patch in the field that's still pretty wet, they won't need to go in for awhile and that'll be dry by then. Kales and raabs can go together.

It looks like tomatoes will be in rows and peppers will be in beds two plants wide. Maybe I can put the quick salad turnips in there too.

Am I missing anything?

Fava/grains will go in the wood field. Kale/raab will go in the shady side of the pig field. Flour corns will go in the south haskap garden with the intersectionality squash (hulless acorn). Flint corns will go in the far field with the maxima squashes and some tomatoes and peppers and dry brush beans. Gaspe will go in the pig field also with some tomatoes and peppers, and with the pepo squashes and bush snap beans. Late sowing of greens will go in the central garden when the ducks are out. Cucumbers will maybe go along the fence with the peas?