Will I ever learn? or Harvest 2011

After last year's wondercrop, I wanted to burn my gloves. Then spring came and I got caught up in the excitement of the planting frenzy. It wasn't that bad last year...was it? I decided to keep it simple this year and I only planted three tomato plants, two squash and about 20 onions. You are looking at all I got from all of the plants. A friend of mine who watered for me while I was gone in July says she got one tomato about the size of a small plum. I tried harder to attract bees this year. I pollenated the zucchini. I planted a coneflower. I endured my daily attack of mosquitos. I am starting to understand the mass use of chemicals in the food growing business...I am not happy about it but I understand it. It is just harder than it looks to grow things well. Although my next door neighbor's garden was busting at the seams...After some observation, she gets more sun. I chopped up my little onions and had them in a taco. Viva la jardin...

Multi-tasking

Multi-tasking I am the first one to admit that I love working on a project at home when the washer and the dryer and the dishwasher are going too. It just feels like I am getting four things done at once. Women seem to be good at multi-tasking. I think this stems from a long history of having to take care of children and doing any and everything else that goes along with that. Babies were strapped on with a cloth or animal skin while the women cleaned carcasses or boned fish or swept the dwelling... When a friend recently told me about how she cleans the shower while she is taking one (I do that too) and wonders if the fumes are bad for her (I wonder that too, every time...) I didn’t feel like such a lunatic. I think I am in good company. Studies show that multi-tasking doesn’t really pay off, but most women I know are constantly multi-tasking: putting on make-up and driving, talking on the phone and driving, digging out a pacie from a four cubic foot diaper bag that is in the floorboard of the back seat and then, with amazing accuracy and a move that would impress Stretch Armstrong, successfully shoving it in the babies mouth and driving...writing lists while in the bathroom, listening to audiobooks while doing housework (I really like this one...); trying to write a blog while making a schedule in my head of all that I need to get done tomorrow. Men (I generalize) do not seem to multi-task as much. They seem to have the ability to block out a lot of stuff and approach life in a more linear fashion. Does it go back to the days of survival and hunting for food and not resting until you had conquered the beast? And while the hunt was on the women figured out how to strap animal skins to their feet to clean out the cave, while nursing their babies and stirring a pot of water they fetched from the river and seasoned with the herbs and berries they picked... I wish I would become better at being in the current moment and tasting it for what it is worth. I miss a lot of things in my daily thrashing. I wish for more linear moments. Something to work on. Coming soon: The Harvest of 2011 or "Will I Ever Learn..."