A Different Kind of Work

We all know I work outside the home. I love my job. It's a very rewarding job but I also very much enjoy my weekends off.

This weekend was not really a weekend off. This was the Mulder "Spring Planting Weekend." Recently expanded from the "Spring Planting Day" due to the amount of planting to be done. It was a very successful weekend and I feel very accomplished.

I feel as if I provided for my family in a different way this weekend. I have provided food for my family. Well, in a few months it will be food.

Take for example the tomatoes. With about ten dollars (seeds, peet pots and a handful of compost for each plant) I planted 44 tomato plants. Those tomato plants, on average, should yield 10-15 pounds each, which we will make into tomato sauce by the gallon, salsa by the jug and still have plenty fresh to eat on our burgers and roast for freezing.

And that's just the tomatoes. It doesn't include the peas, carrots, spinach, lettuce, beans, squash, pumpkins, zucchini, peppers, potatoes, asparagus, and corn. Not to mention the "experimental" broccoli, celery, fennel, tomatillos and black Japanese watermelon. They're experimental because we've never grown them before and we don't really know how to.

Then there's the herbs. With one packet of basil seeds I have more than 30 plants just growing along happily until they get turned into sauce.


On a more long term note the fruit plants I put in (blueberries, grapes, raspberries and cranberries) probably won't produce until Adeline starts grade school...


My point is that working with the earth, really getting on my hands and knees to nurse these little plants into organic, natural food for my family is incredibly rewarding. So despite the sunburn, the sand in my mouth and the blisters on my hands I feel like I had my most productive week(end) at work in a long time...