THE LAWN OF DOOOOOM

I took on being the grounds keeper for my dad and step-moms church.  Extra baby funds for when that happens.

They have a pretty big lawn.  And it is a maniac.  I took too long to mow it the first time...it was over a foot long in some spots.  In my defence, a week before, it had hardly started growing.

So I spent 7 hours.  YES.  7 hours (split by 3 days) cutting that damn lawn, literally inch by inch because the mower isn't powerful enough to take more than that when the grass is 6-13 inched long. 

I didn't learn my lesson the first time.  I got an e-mail from my step mom a week after I finished cutting (it was frappy week.  Ain't  nobody got time for that shit) asking when I was going to cut the lawn again.

I *had* planned on cutting it on Sunday.  Then it HAILED!  so a week and a half after I finished, (so like, 2 weeks after I started) it's back to being a foot high.  The mower is battery operated, so with how long it is, I can only cut for about an hour and a half each time! 

It will calm down some soon (omg I hope) so I can actually do some other gardening.  Like making it look pretty!

spring

Spring has arrived a tad early this year.  I know it's spring because the maples are flowering. 

And the other day, on my way to work, I saw 3 flocks of geese flying north. 

Maples are the first trees to pollinate.  If you are feeling snuffly and itchy (throat and eyes), blame the maples!

Did you know there are 2 main ways for plants to pollinate?  Wind and pollinating insects.  Wind pollinators are the ones that don't have showy flowers, like maples and rag weed.  Plants (and I'm including woody plants like trees and shrubs) that have showy flowers, like cherry trees, golden rod or tulips are pollinated by insects, like bees, butterflies and flies even.  They aren't the ones to blame for your dripping nose and itchy eyes. 

Some plants flower first, and then leaf out, and some leaf and then flower.  Forsythia and maples tend to flower first, and then leaf.


We're going to have an odd gardening year this year because we had such a mild winter.  A lot of plants in our zone depend on the cold and subsequent dormancy for good growth and heartiness.  kinda like how we need a good nights sleep to be productive.  We can survive, but it might not be pretty! Fruit trees won't do as well, and we're going to have a lot of bugs!  The cold kills them, but this year they would have just burrowed into something soft and hung out.


I hadn't been planning on going back to gardening this season.  I wouldn't have gotten a full season, and being pregnant wouldn't have been great for construction!  I will be going back 2 days a week to do maintenance.  I'm glad, I'd have missed my gardens!  We start early April, and maybe sooner if I help out with spring clean ups too.

I has a sad. or my first world problems.

here comes my 1/4 life crisis.  or, a wave of depression...or you know, I was just laying in bed thinking.

I'm 32.  I don't have a job.  OK, wait.  I have a job.  Maybe.  In the spring.  But it's a job I don't want.  Partly because I'm not enjoying it any more, part because the stone work is to physically hard, and *that's* what I enjoy doing.  But I'm not going to wreck my body and injure myself.  Part because my boss went off the deep end last season and has odd expectations off me and has no patience for when I don't meet them.

I had not planned on going back in April. 

I also planned on getting pregnant so I didn't *have* to go back.  But *that* so far has been a bust.  *sigh*

I had what I thought was a great job.  I was managing a cafe.  I was organising, and getting things done, I was enjoying customer relations (something I've grown into apparently).  and one day, I got fired.  *BAM*  out of nowhere.  apparently, I was...not meeting their expectations.  Now, I know you read this in the paragraph before.  I've been beating myself up over this.  The cafe job, there was zero communication.  You say 'manager/supervisor', I do a job I think is what a 'manager/supervisor' does.  They didn't give me a job description, so I was winging it.  I'm more sad than anything over the situation.  I mean, I'm angry too, but I'm not frothing.

So, I have no job.  I can't get a gardening job over the winter.  And really, I don't want to,because I don't want to lead on a potential long term employer if I'm going to get pregnant.  Does that make *any* sense?  I guess I'm looking at other jobs that have high turn over, like Starbucks, to work.  then, I get the old brain thinking, "crappit.  I'm 32.  and I want to go work at *Starbucks!?*".  I feel ashamed because I didn't get any ducks in a line earlier.  I feel embarrassed too.  Is there something wrong with me? 

I keep thinking of my friend Sadie, who started a Hoop empire.  She's a biophysicist for heavens sake, and she followed her heart, and started hooping, something she *loves*.  I keep racking my brain.  what can I do?  what do I love?  and I get zip. 

Photography. 
I'm doing it.  I have a photo blog, I'm taking classes, I've got a book (YES!  A BOOK!) coming out, with a show attached to that...and then?  I've talked about Vivienne before.  She's another who has taken a passion and made it shine.  Do I have the chops for something like that?  In photography?  I think the best thing for me to do here is keep learning and keep walking this path.  I love it so.  But the way is not clear.

Horticulture.
I'm not sure I have the talent for it.  I'd like to keep working on it.  There was one point I wanted to do 'horticulture therapy', helping the elderly and disabled to garden more easily.  I'll keep that in mind too. 

But I guess what it comes down to is I'm feeling sorry for myself, and a little scared because Jason's back is not great, and I'm so scared that he won't be able to work, and there is no way we can survive on Starbucks wage.

Just a moment

find my {this moment} at becca photographs

This week I went to a trade show!!  It is a landscape/horticulture trade show called Congress. My boss payed for me to go, and take the seminars.  it was quite inspiring.  I was mostly inspired by a seminar called "Horticulture as Therapy for Specialized Populations" .  I was thinking of my Grandparents through out the seminar.  They belong to three horticulture societies, and are on a yearly garden walk.  My Grandma can't garden anymore because she can't bend/kneel.  And I know it's starting to take it's toll on Grandpa too.  I plan on going up once a month this summer to help out, and I'd *like* to help build some raised beds to make things easier on Grandpas back/knees.  My boss suggested even just things like ikea/rubbermaid bins...I could even make nice simple wooden boxes for the outsides.  Maybe if I can make a seat that Grandma can easily sit on and move, she can grub around again too.

At the Royal Botanical Gardens in Hamilton they have a program called Horticulture Therapy Professional Training that I'd like to do, then I'd be certified!

My sister is a Personal Support Worker...I kept thinking that maybe she's want to get in on this with me too!