dirt-digging and mud-slinging

It's veggie garden season again. Seeds that arrived while the ground was white (and deep white at that) have been patiently waiting in their little paper packets but are now getting antsy and wanting to get outside. They told me so, really.

Some have had a head start, and a tray of tomato, pepper, eggplant, cauliflower, and some scrawny-looking lettuce has taken up residence on my kitchen window sill. I do think they are farther ahead than in other years, possibly because this year I took the precaution of placing a kitchen chair in front of the window so that the dogs don't knock the whole load on the floor. Each of the past two years I've had seedlings on the window sill, they've fallen at least once so there's a bit of a guessing game when planting time comes. I guess that adds adventure to the whole thing.

Today, after school I hope to hit the veggie garden, stir up the soil, add more compost to fill up the boxes some more, mark out the grids for planting, and plant some seeds directly, ones that don't mind the cold so much: broccoli, spinach, kale, leeks, shallots, maybe even some beans and peas in hopes that the frosty nights are behind us. I also hope to stake out the garden expansion for this year, for R's foray into the farmers' market. A few extra boxes, that's all, our little contribution to the "Eat Local" movement.

Election update:the Fish and Balloon parties made up their party platforms over the weekend (made up, respectively, by A and R), which have been kept secret from each other and thankfully there have been no press leaks. They will be nominating candidates for the various ridings today and voting in their party leaders. The two parties have thus far been very genteel about it all, with no anti-campagining going on. Then again, it is early into the process and things can get nasty in the final days. A thinks Gadunka will win the leadership of the Fish party, mainly because he's big enough to eat the other Bionocles. The term 'democracy' may need a little more explanation there.