Vintage Home and Farm

Gardening can be a great way to relieve stress and anxiety.  I know most of us are feeling some level of stress as we're reading the news and seeing that most of the world is social distancing to try to stem the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19).  The constant worry and fear about the virus can lead to a terrible sense of unease.  Some of the physical effects of too much worry are tension headaches, sleepless nights and higher blood pressure.  All of this is hard on our immune systems.  We want our immune systems to be strong right now, and so it seems wise to take steps to relieve stress and reduce feelings of anxiety. To break the cycle of worry, like many families we've focused on all the positive and productive activities we can still do.  For us, that means reading, watching movies, playing music and getting outside in the fresh air.  We go for long walks with our dog.  And one pastime we've really dug into lately is working outside in the garden.  There is a sense of

This year instead of tilling up the entire garden, we decided to make due with what we have and just pull out the weeds.  We began work on it a few weeks ago at one end and then planted peas. As we looked over the remaining rows of monstrous weeds and took stock of what is left to do, we noticed that there are a number of vegetables that overwintered.  Amazingly, new growth has appeared on last year's kale, spinach, and swiss chard.  We never did cut down the broccoli and cabbage plants last fall, and the giant stems are sporting brand-new tender leaves. Three kinds of lettuce are growing throughout the garden from seeds that blew around during the fall, after the lettuce bolted. So there I have been out in the garden in mid-February and early March, sampling the leaves of all of these perpetual vegetables and finding that they taste quite good.  At least once daily you'll find me out there nibbling like a deer that has discovered a bounty of produce for the taking.