Winter is Here

Winter really snuck up on me this year. The beets (and extra beds of beets) I'd put in due to our mad love for pickled beets froze into the ground and were covered with snow. The lovely braided chains of about 10 varieties of fat garlic bulbs needed sorting and planting, and kept getting put off to the "next weekend." A couple dozen cloves made it into the ground....I managed to hack into the frozen earth and haphazardly put in about a quarter of the bulbs I'd planted last year. Within days of planting they too were blanketed with snow. No time to add a layer of hay for extra insulation, the garlic now carries the same "wish and prayer" of protection as my lovely roses and strawberry beds. I guess we'll be growing that "Darwin-ian" garden Shermen had been promoting, (and I'd been scoffing as laziness) survival of the fittest.
Now it is time to do the "indoor stuff." Paint and drill the dried gourds from two seasons ago. Peruse seed catalogs and plan for the next season. Fantasize about building greenhouses and cold frames. Rue the waste from the recent season, "I could be eating beets from our garden right now, if I'd only....." then quickly smack those thoughts right out of my head.
This year I've decided the garden is for PLEASURE. Big ideas about total self-sustainability, feeding our family and more, participating in farmer's markets and starting CPA's of our own....gone. (for now.) I get enough stress from the work week, our untidy house and unfinished business of a million varieties. Freaking out because the tomatoes and berries are (literally) hen-pecked, the cukes aren't pickled and the basil isn't pesto'd.....over. This year I'm growing more flowers and things we can eat as we stroll through the beds. Snap peas and strawberries. Things that give pleasure right where they are.