Inside Time

It's the thick of winter and I'm inundated with homework that I ought to be working on this very moment. I'm completely distracted though by the sun shining into my yard and directly onto my 4x4 raised beds. All I want to do is put on some grubbies and start digging in the dirt. The seed catalog on my kitchen table keeps begging me to commit to this year's order.

As beautiful as it is through my windows, it was 24 degrees outside this morning when I took Jovi to the Max station. Frost covered the trees and lined the streets. The rhodies withered under the stress of cold. I tell myself this is the inward time.

In school (I'm studying Chinese medicine) I've been learning about the five elements. Winter is water, it's the ultimate yin time. It is a time of life nourishing stillness. Everything snuggling into the warmth of the Earth, the soil protecting life until spring. It is proper for this time to feel pregnant with future possibility, the potential energy making us a bit stir crazy. It is also proper to wait, to be warm in our homes. The time isn't right to plant and till and prune and march into landscape projects.

The sun teases me into thinking it is.

Oh Look Winter Gardening Time!

I know, it's supposed to be 100 degrees out on Wednesday - crazy hot for the Willamette Valley - and I'm talking about winter gardening! Now's the time to plant though according to Territorial Seeds' Winter Gardening chart. Cool season crops often like warm soil for seed germination even though the plants themselves like cooler weather for production. I need to get my butt in gear is what it means!!

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