Cruising and Questioning



Where I was this time last week

 We just returned from our very first cruise. This trip was born last March when we were living with the remnants of four feet of snow. I could only think about going somewhere the sun was guaranteed to shine on my bare toes. When I signed on for the cruise, I didn’t think about any of the realities – the cost, the details, the extravagance. We don’t vacation like that. Our vacations usually include some kind of physical discomfort – sleeping on the ground, driving a long distance, cleaning up after ourselves. We are not accustomed to five course meals, chocolates on our pillows, and days filled with no other options but – lay around, eat, lay around some more.

As nice as it was to escape the cold, I must confess I was a little uncomfortable with the lifestyle. And I’m not just talking about the tightness of my clothes by the end of the week. It seemed a bit overindulgent, which is nice on occasion I suppose. Seven days of it was more than enough for me. While on the cruise we heard about people who stay on the boat for several weeks or take tours that last months, even around the world in 107 days. There is an elderly woman who has actually lived on the ship we were on for the last 15 years. Doing the math, my hubby and me figured it’s about the same cost as a good retirement community.

All this indulgence got me thinking. Why do we need so much? When we were in Belize City we saw such desperation. The lucky merchants who had stands near the port showcased a tired, but colorful, assortment of items for sale. If you paused longer than a few seconds in front of any one item they were ready to bargain down to pennies to make the sale. As we walked in one open-air market guarded by military with machine guns, women yelled to me through the gates – “Mama, Mama, I will braid her hair! Just a few dollars! Bring her here!” They spotted my long-haired daughter with the big wide eyes and wanted to do business. It made me disconcertingly aware of how much I have. Here we were grumbling about spending too much for the drinks on the ship. These people could live for years on the cost of our cruise alone.

I’m not saying I didn’t enjoy my vacation, I did. I just couldn’t help but be struck by the disparity. I couldn’t help but ask the question, “How did I get so lucky?” Sure, I went to college, I worked hard, I tried to be a good person, but bottom line, it has much more to do with where I was born than what I have done since that day. Seeing such overwhelming poverty made me feel not only guilty, but helpless. Although I needed nor wanted nothing, I tried to spend a few dollars at the market. I can’t imagine it made all that much difference.

Having so much free time to lay in the sun, I did a lot of thinking. I wondered how we evolved in to such entitled people. I liked that Holland America didn’t use paper products wastefully and didn’t insist on washing our towels and sheets every night (although we could have requested it). But there was still so much that we wasted. Foil wrapped chocolates, a breakfast menu, and fresh bucket of ice left in our room every night. My kids had three or four different juices with nearly every meal, not to mention a sampling of each of the plentiful desserts. And the individually packaged butter, sweeteners, tea bags, straws, and yogurts were available by the thousands. At the cafeteria style dining room, full plates of food covered abandoned tables. With so many options, why not try everything? After all, we paid for it! I took a tour of the humongous kitchens and was told that the leftover food is chopped up in to tiny pieces and thrown out to sea for the fishes. They couldn’t say the amount. I imagine enough to feed much of Belize City for the day.

Flying home on the airplane as the flight attendants came around with drinks and snacks, I wondered why it is we need them. We can’t survive a 2 hour flight without food and drink? I know my own children can barely survive a 10 minute drive without nourishment. But why is this? Again, when did we become so entitled?

What would happen if we tried more often to do without? What if we passed on the free soda and pretzels on the plane? What if we simply brought an apple with us instead of stopping to buy a 16 oz soda and individually bagged chips at the convenience mart? Or what if we just waited until our next meal or a water fountain? People survived for centuries without “snacks”. It was such an ordeal to produce a meal, that there was no time to snack in between. Maybe it won't make a difference if I forego these things, but what if thousands did? Following the logic of the butterfly flapping his wings in Timbuktoo, something would change. What would it be? I want to redefine for me and for my family what we truly "need".

My house is crammed with stuff. And when I look around and think about getting rid of a few things, it only takes me moments to convince myself I might need the item in question someday. But I don’t really need this stuff. When we returned from our trip, I learned of a family nearby who suffered a house fire. Everyone was fine, but much of their belongings were damaged or lost. I wondered how it might feel to lose the things that fill my house. How much would I truly miss?

I don’t have any clever answers or ideas this week about living organically with children. I only have questions. How much do we really need? Are there any ways we can cut down just a little? How can my consumption and my decisions affect the rest of the world? If all of us gave more careful thought to the things we buy and consume, maybe there would be a little more to share with those who truly need it. And maybe we would discover that many of the things we're "entitled" to we don't actually need.

Be My Valentine

I just finished making my Valentine’s cards! No, I’m not in 2nd grade. But do you remember what a thrill Valentine’s Day cards were in 2nd grade? I loved walking home with my brown paper bag decorated with doilies and stickers and stuffed to bursting with valentines from all my classmates. I couldn’t wait to lay them all out on the kitchen table. I’d study them while I sucked on a lollipop that came affixed to the card from the rich kid. These days my kids come home with their cards and tend to open the ones with candy first, which is most of them.


My daughter is the child who brings in the homemade Valentines Day cards. You know the one. Barely legible, with puffy stickers all over the front. You roll your eyes and think “overachiever”. And she is. But she makes those cards because she likes to and not because her mother makes her. My youngest son is happy to fold over the Harry Potter valentine and choose a sticker to close it with before scrawling his friend’s name on the card. Done. My oldest son never went in for valentines. I made them for him in kindergarten and I’m fairly certain he’s never given out a valentine since.

Here’s why I still make Valentines Day cards even now - I like to. I still get a thrill out of sparkles and glue and paper and pink. I know there’s therapy for that. Or maybe it is my therapy. The bigger reason that I make valentines is that it’s a chance to tell my kids how special they are. When I talk to relatives or friends I haven’t seen in awhile, it’s easy to tell them how amazing my kids are. But I don’t get enough opportunities to tell my kids themselves. And I know they need to hear it.

In a previous life, I had a job that involved working with teenagers and their families. I made a point of telling parents how amazing their kids where while their kids were standing right there. And if a teen asked me to write a recommendation, I always gave them a copy of what I wrote. I wanted them to hear why I thought they were so special. I don’t think kids hear it enough. They hear so many negative messages all day long from themselves and from their peers and maybe even from some adults. Countering those messages is important.

I worry that I don’t tell my own kids how special they are often enough. I guess it just feels awkward to come out in the middle of passing the broccoli with, “You’re such a kind person – that makes me so proud!” So I look for opportunities that present themselves. And Valentines Day does that.

You don’t have to make homemade cards. There’s plenty of them for sale at the store or maybe you even have leftovers in the basement from years gone by. I pulled out the leftover Transformers valentines for my hubby to give the kids. Bigger Valentines are good though. There’s more room for all the mushy stuff you want to say.

I hope you use this Valentines Day as an excuse to tell everyone around you how much you love them. We shouldn’t need an excuse, but it does provide perfect cover from skeptical kids. They can’t wonder why you’re saying this now. It’s Valentines Day after all! However you do it, be sure to find ways to tell your kids what you love about them. They need to hear it and we need to say it.

Get Off Your Butt - Your Life Depends On It!

I don’t know where you live, but where I live we are trapped in the house by yet another lovely snow storm. Only this one is worse because it’s layering a shimmery dressing of ice on everything. It’s quite the adventure just slipping to the end of the drive for the newspaper (glad the cameras weren’t rolling for that one - yak trax are no match for black ice). Even the kids are becoming sedentary. The snow is so deep and so heavy, that after the requisite snowman, there’s not much to do but begin a snowball fight that inevitably ends with someone violating the “no head” rule, the other someone in tears with a bruised face or ego, and me being forced to put on my own boots to retrieve the offending someone. Notice I’m naming no names.


So what else is there to do but grab a book or fire up the computer? We’re all guilty, but if we don’t get up off our butts it’ll kill us. I’m not kidding. New research by the American Cancer Society says that women who spend six hours a day sitting on their butts are 40% more likely to die sooner than women who only spend three hours sitting. Doesn’t even matter if those long-sitters are marathon runners or spend all their other hours teaching aerobics.

How can this be? Sitting for prolonged periods suppresses the immune system. Your blood stops circulating normally and can create the perfect scenario for blood clots and heart disease, not to mention raising your resting blood pressure and increasing your cholesterol. Long hours spent sitting may cause large muscle groups to shut down which can lead to damaging metabolic changes. Yipes!

Throwing in my own two cents here - the other obvious factor could be the junk food consumed by people sitting for long periods of time in front of screens. Given the opportunity, my children will mindlessly eat in front of any kind of screen. As long as the food is within arm’s reach, I think they would eat without ceasing. We keep the feed room in the barn shut tight because I know if my horses were to get loose and find their feed, they would eat themselves to death. They don’t know better. Do we?

I’m not so sure, so I only allow my children apples, celery, or carrots while they are watching TV (except for “movie night” when only popcorn will do). This way if they are stuffing themselves with something, at least it’s something that’s good for them.

Still, from what I’m reading it’s the sitting that will kill them faster than the potato chips. Luckily, our screen rules and my children’s energy levels prevent them from sitting still for more than an hour. But my hubby’s a different story. His job requires him to stay motionless (except his mouth, and hopefully his brain) for long hours. And sometimes when I get on a good writing jag, I can sit here for hours too.

So what’s to be done? It’s pretty simple. We need to get off our butts! It’s not too difficult to add some movement in to your day. Walk to someone’s office and talk in person rather than sending that e-mail. Instead of sitting at the counter screaming for my child to stop doing whatever he’s doing that’s making all that noise, I’ll get off my duff and go find the source of the noise. Just breaking up the periods of sitting should do it. Move around enough to get the blood flowing. Walk up the stairs and back down. Laundry helps with this. I’ve started using the annoying end buzzer on my dryer so that I have to get up and take out the clothes or risk hearing that awful sound every 4 minutes. Instead of sitting down to sort the mail or write a quick note, I stand at the counter. And when talking on the phone instead of lounging on the couch, I’m using that time to patrol the house for dirty laundry, discarded edible contraband (i.e. something out of the kitchen other than carrots, celery, or apples), and lights left on. Sometimes I even clean while I’m talking. (Crazy, I know.) When I’m stuck waiting for a kid, a car, an appointment, whatever, I’ve taken to finding a comfortable wall to lean on and playing with my iphone instead of sitting down to read some mindless tabloid in the waiting room. I’m looking for any excuse to get off my butt.

If your kids are the ones sitting still for hours, you need a plan. Asking for their help, sending them on an errand, and if worse comes to worse, pulling the plug (or flipping the circuit breaker) can help you get them moving. One article I read suggested wearing a pedometer and setting a goal each day, but that could get old (or not, depending on your personality). I think it’s just a matter of deciding that living a long, healthy life is more important than watching another episode, playing one more game, or wasting another minute on the internet.

These may be “new” findings, but even Plato knew the consequences of whiling away the hours motionless, “Lack of activity destroys the good condition of every human being, while movement and methodical physical exercise save it and preserve it.” Smart guy that Plato.

Actions Speak Louder Than Words No Matter How Loud Your Words

Actions speak louder than words. I’ve run in to this truth several times this week. I think it’s a fitting motto for those of us who claim to be attempting to live life in harmony with the earth and our bodies. We can say all the pretty, socially acceptable things we want, but when it comes down to brass tacks, we are what we do.

I do believe that actions speak louder than words. In fact, I’m staking my parenting success on those words. My kids may say really (really) mean things to each other and to me. They may call each other awful names, threaten to hurt each other, and make all manner of snide comments about one another, but when they are out in the larger world (i.e. not at our house), I am relieved to see that they treat people kindly. They don’t throw things at people or slam doors. They don’t call people that annoy them “idiots” or make sarcastic comments. They swallow their frustration and their pride. And it always surprises me, though it shouldn’t by now.

They may scream things at me that will haunt me for days or tell me that I am the meanest mother in the world (or lately a “freak”), but when I observe them with other authority figures like teachers and coaches, they are respectful and obedient. They even seem to work hard to secure their praise. I’m not saying that my kids always treat me like the trash waiting to be dragged to the curb, just that for every nasty word they scream at me, there are thousands of kind words used on others (and occasionally me).

While I don’t appreciate being the verbal punching bag, and there are certainly consequences when it happens (apparently that’s what makes me a “freak” since other parents would never take away screen time or force their children to apologize), I am grateful that it appears my children are learning the lessons I am trying to hammer home. Their actions speak louder than their words. They may yell at me, but they will still complete their weekend chore. They may say they hate their sibling, but they will still share their after-game treat with them. They may scream that the homework is stupid as they settle down in the bean bag chair to get it done.

This motto has not been easy for me to embrace. I think words are important. I think they are powerful and dangerous and tricky. So I admit to overreacting to some of the words that come out of my children’s mouths. The learning curve on this one hasn’t been steep for me, but I’m getting there. Slowly I’m learning to be quiet and wait and see what they actually do. Sometimes they just need a safe place to vent. I do the same thing with my animals. If anyone ever put a hidden camera in our barn, they would deem me a lunatic. I talk to the animals, compliment them, and ask them questions. But sometimes I curse them, call them names, and complain to them. It’s a chance to vent. They listen to my ramblings with practiced indifference and it’s refreshing. I don’t have to own up to anything I’ve said because no one’s going to call me on it. Animals have only actions to communicate with, no words. I understand them most of the time. I know exactly where they stand and don’t have to try figure out why they said what they said.

As a parent, it’s difficult not to call my children on the things that come out of their mouths. I find myself letting some things slide and then blowing up over other things. And sometimes it feels like the kids are really feeling around for the limits. “I can say this and I don’t get a reaction, so how about this…”

When I flip the motto around and apply it to myself, I’m grateful. I truly hope that my actions are speaking louder than my words. I may be so angry I shake, but I will still feed my children a healthy meal. I will still do their laundry and drive them where they need to go and tuck them in at night with a quiet song and a hug. The millions of actions that I have done for my kids speak volumes. Hopefully enough to drown out the times I’ve said harsh things out of pride or been cruel in my effort to get my point across.

Sometimes it’s helpful to take a breath. I’m learning to say, “There will be consequences for this. I don’t know what they are yet, but there will be.” And then walking away instead of saying something I’ll regret later. It’s a nonstop juggling act this parenting gig. How much patience before you have to step in? How much do you tolerate before you have to act? Should you say something or let them figure it out on their own? I don’t think any of us get it right every day, or any given hour for that matter. I guess the best that we can do is the best that we can do. Take a deep breath. Be quiet. Let the words settle before you spring to action because those actions will always speak louder than any words.

The Wonders of Grape Seed Oil

That glass of wine is good for you, right? That’s what the research says. Isn’t it wonderful when science proves your bad habit is actually a good one? Gotta love that. Recently I’ve discovered another product of the wine industry that’s even better for you – grape seed oil.

I first learned of grape seed oil at a wine festival in Virginia. I was with an old friend (who was driving) and truly enjoying the fine selections of Virginia wines, so I didn’t necessarily appreciate all that the chef was explaining at the grape seed oil tasting. I just know it tasted delicious. I bought several bottles of natural grape seed oil and garlic-infused grape seed oil.

Once home I found that the oil was even better when you have all your senses about you. It’s got a clean, nutty taste that works wonders in salad dressing. Grape seed oil has a higher smoke point than olive oil, so cooking with it was a pleasure. Veggies sauteed in the oil were divine and lemon infused grapeseed oil made a baked chicken heavenly. Dipping bread in any of the infused oils quickly became a family favorite treat.

But then I started snooping. I needed to know if the things I had heard in my happy state at the wine festival were true. Great news – they are true and then some. Here’s what I learned.

The benefits of grape seed oil have been enjoyed for thousands of years. Ancient Greeks and Egyptians not only consumed wine for their health, they used the sap from grape vines to make a salve and the leaves to treat all kinds of ailments. Mostly consumed in the form of wine, the real benefits of grapes can be found in the seed.

Grape seed oil is made from squeezing the oil from the seeds. Something wonderful from the waste product of another industry – this is good. When buying grape seed oil, be sure you pay attention to the method in which it was made. Look for expeller pressed grape seed oil. Most of the grape seed oil you might buy in the grocery store has been chemically processed like other oils. This process destroys many of the beneficial properties found in the oil. It also wreaks havoc on the flavor.

Expeller pressed grape seed oil is bright green. That threw me at first because I thought some kind of dye had been added, but nope, that’s the color. Bright green – just like the seeds of the grape.

So how is grape seed oil good for you? It’s a poly-unsaturated fat (remember it’s the saturated fats that are bad for you). Fats should be eaten in moderation. That said, grape seed oil has Omega 6’s and is not the kind of fat that raises your cholesterol. Grape seeds are stuffed with vitamin E, flavanoids, lenoleic acid, and OPCs (oligomeric proanthcyanidin complexes) – all proven antioxidants. It can easily replace olive oil or canola oil and is equally healthy for you.

If you’ve been reading the papers as you fill your wine glass, you know that wine is good for your heart (again, in moderation. Too much wine will offset any potential benefits, particularly if you get behind the wheel). The same benefits are concentrated in grape seed oil, since most of the beneficial elements in the wine come from the grape seed extract present in the wine. Here’s an abbreviated list. Most of my findings come from a recent University of Maryland study.

• Grape seed extract is sometimes used to treat health problems related to free radical damage, including heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. Studies done, mostly with animals support these uses.

• The flavanoids found in grape seed extract (same as the ones found in wine) seem to lower “bad” cholesterol. Research is in the early stages, but the findings are promising.

• A study using healthy volunteers found that grape seed increased the levels of antioxidants in the blood.

• Animal studies showed that grape seed extract reduce blood pressure substantially.

• The antioxidant compounds found in grape seed oil may also help protect the skin from premature aging. Is that why Mediterranean people’s skin looks so good?

• Test tube studies found that grape seed extracts may have prevented the growth of breast, stomach, colon, prostate, and lung cancer cells. Antioxidants, like the ones found in grape seed extract may reduce the risk of developing cancer. Studies also found that grape seed extract may help prevent damage to human liver cells caused by chemotherapy.

• In a double-bind, placebo-controlled study breast cancer patients who took grape seed extract daily following surgery had less edema and pain than those who took the placebo. So grape seed extract, found in grape seed oil is helpful in reducing swelling and pain.

Grape seed oil, therefore, is at its worst a delicious oil to cook with, and at its best a cancer and heart disease deterrent, that can help reduce swelling and improve the condition of your skin. Wow – that’s a win-win.

Personal Note:

Most of the grape seed oils I found in the grocery store are chemically processed. So I went back to the company that was selling the grape seed oil at the wine festival. Turns out it’s a direct sales company along the lines of Tastefully Simple, but the food is all natural, and free of preservatives, MSG, and food dyes. My kind of company. Discovering that there were no reps in my area, I signed up.

I was hesitant to mention this information here. I’m very sensitive to my reader’s trust. I don’t want you to ever think I’m selling you a bill of goods. However, after talking with several people about my dilemma, it was pointed out to me that friends share information about where to buy the best products with each other. So consider it like that. I’m your friend telling you that here is one source for grape seed oil – me.

You can buy through my website or you can become a “culinary club member”. To be a culinary club member you pay a one time fee (not yearly) of $25 and then you can order the products through my website for 20% off and not have to host a party, attend a party, or badger me (not that I mind). You can also choose to host a party and earn some free product. You know the direct-sales drill. I’d be happy to speak with you about Wildtree. I’m hoping this little venture will help fund my daughter’s upcoming experience as a Student Ambassador with People to People. I will leave a permanent link on my blog’s home page.

I hope you won’t take offense and will continue to trust me as a writer sharing her ideas, knowledge, and honest experiences. I turn down several offers a month for free products from companies that would like me to print their spiel or write my own wonderful review that will convince you to buy said treasure. I don’t do it because this blog is not about selling things. Can you tell how much I stressed over posting this information on Wildtree? OK, I’ll stop. But now you have the information. Do with it what you wish.

Winter Fantasy Gardening

This is a dangerous time of year for the home gardener. A time when you can gamble untold fortunes on the lure of glossy ideals thrust upon you on a daily basis by the US mail. The seed catalogs are piling up. It’s that time of year. Despite my commitment to canceling every possible catalog this year (catalogchoice.org – great site!), I’m still being tempted by the possibilities.

One of my annual rituals used to be curling up with a hot mug of tea, sharp pencils, graph paper, and a stack of glossy seed catalogs to sketch out the gardens for the coming year. I loved the powerful, albeit delusional, feeling of control as I assigned each square foot its allotted vegetables for the year. My plans were usually grand, and I was ridiculously proud of my neat little diagrams, confident the fantasy would play out come June. It never did. Really. Never. I’m not a very anal gardener. As much as I would like to be organized and as much as I would like my garden to replicate those neat graph paper creations. Just didn’t happen. Oh, the seeds wasted, the money gone, the hope denied. But now I’m much smarter and my gardens, while still pretty much a free-for-all-plant-on-today’s-whim-or-whichever-seed-packet-I-remembered-to-bring-with-me kind of thing, are bounteous.

So if you are marking up the seed catalogs and planning the garden of your dreams, let me share a few lessons learned.

1. Plant what you eat. It doesn’t matter how beautiful the purple radishes look in the glossy catalog, no one in my house will eat them. Waste of space. Think about what you actually eat and plant that. Plant more of what your family actually eats and less of what you are the only person who will appreciate.

2. Buy seeds strategically to save money. Plant the vegetables that cost the most when you buy them at the store. Fancy red peppers cost an arm and a leg at the store – plant lots of them. Many heirloom tomatoes can’t be purchased at the store – plant them. As much as I love homegrown potatoes, I won’t be devoting half my garden to them this year, since there are five or six local farms that offer organic potatoes at reasonable prices that taste amazing.

3. If it doesn’t freeze well, only plant what you can eat. I love sugar snap peas. Love them. So I devote ridiculous amounts of garden space to them. But this is silly because a) we can never eat all of them and b) they don’t freeze or can well. Much is wasted. Maybe this year I will heed my own advice. Same goes for carrots. I always plant several big rows and they are a HUGE pain to weed. And in the end a good number of them rot in the ground before we can eat them. The horses are the beneficiaries of this mistake each year.

4. Check the seeds you have before placing your order. The seeds you used last year are probably fine for this year. Just sow them a bit heavier. If they are stored properly, seeds keep for years. A lot of seed companies sell seed packets with hundreds of seeds in them – more than you can possibly use. Save them for the next year or split your order with a friend.

A few definitions that may be helpful:

“Hybrid” - this is a seed that has been developed by cross-breeding several plants in the interest of developing things like “disease resistance”, “early harvest”, “high yield” which are all good things. However, when commercial seed companies do this they are focused on performance features sometimes at the expense of taste. Also, you can’t save seeds from hybrids – they can’t reproduce themselves, what you wind up with is a shadow of the former plant or basically one of the strains used to create it.

“GMO or GE” – These are genetically modified or genetically engineered seeds which means they were altered using molecular genetics techniques. For example, corn is developed with a pesticide engineered in to it to help it kill certain pests. When you are planting hundreds of thousands of acres this can be financially beneficial. It is a little frightening though, as seeds become more and more genetically identical we put ourselves at risk for disaster should some type of challenge prove too much for that particular seed. Never mind that technically you are eating pesticide.

“heirloom” – I wrote last January about how much I love heirlooms. Heirlooms are seeds that have been saved and passed down by individual gardeners. These seeds must be “open pollinated” meaning they can reproduce themselves. They provide the most variety and security. That said, heirlooms will vary in their ability to thrive in certain climates, so choose heirlooms that grow in your area. If you plant heirlooms and select seeds from only your best plants, you’re doing your own genetic modification on a much smaller scale. I think this is cool as you are developing your own heirloom seeds!

“organic” – Most seed companies carry a line of organic seeds these days. Regulation can be spotty, so if you’re serious about organics, you may want to look for the USDA seal. You’ll pay dearly though. Organic seeds are produced entirely through organic practices by a certified organic operation.

Here are a few of my favorite seed companies:

Landreth Seed (these guys are local, so they’re almost always my first choice)

Pinetree Seed (these guys have great environmentally friendly attitudes and they sell seeds in more realistic sized packets for the home gardener)

Johnny’s Select Seed (going to try these guys for the first time this year, but I’ve heard good things)

High-Mowing Seeds (these are all-organic guys and the seeds are sold at my local natural food store. There’s something to be said for not having to pay shipping and being able to buy your seeds NOW)

There are lots of seed companies out there. When selecting yours, pay attention to where the seeds are coming from. If you’re growing in upstate New York, you might not do so well with seeds developed in southern California. If you’re buying non-local seeds pay attention to the zones specified for each seed. You can find your zone at the National Gardening Association’s site: www.garden.org/zipzone.

Also, if you’ve never ordered from a company before, I wouldn’t order EVERYTHING from them. Be sure you can trust them before you trust them with your entire garden. Seeds are relatively cheap, so it’s fun to try out a few newfangled plants and a new company or two each year. Keeps the gardening exciting. (of course excitement is relative)

Winter fantasy gardening is still one of my favorite ways to pass the time. Don’t let my “be realistic” nonsense squash your happiness. If you think that orange turnip looks amazing, you buy that seed. To heck with eating, sometimes we garden just because we can.