Little Windows

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All images copyright Emily Shirley, unless otherwise noted.

May 5
Crop I read Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal, Vegetable, Miracle this winter and promptly resolved to grow my own crop come spring — and feed my family from it, of course. I should mention too, I also went through a bread-making phase and felt pretty sure I’d never buy a loaf of bread again. I’m back to buying bread, but feel it was a worthwhile exercise. So back to the crop, here’s our progress: exactly four small seedlings, a random weed sprout and two tiny mushrooms. Considering my shoddy seed-growing history (cats knock over pots, I neglect and forget to water, etc) and the fact that this little container was kicked over, not once, but twice — I consider this a great result. I planted Italian basil, Genovese Siberian tomatoes and rainbow cherry tomatoes, all heirloom. Since I neglected to label the seedlings, I have no idea what’s sprouting here but whichever it is, it’ll be a happy surprise. And like seeds, songs need just the right amount of care, patience and fertile ground to grow. (See what I did there? Brought it back around to the album!) And as seen in my seed tray, sometimes you plant 6 pots and only 2 grow. So it goes… And you water and nurture those two, give them love and lots of light, and hope that one day they’ll bear some damn fruit so you can feed your family.

Crop

I read Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal, Vegetable, Miracle this winter and promptly resolved to grow my own crop come spring — and feed my family from it, of course. I should mention too, I also went through a bread-making phase and felt pretty sure I’d never buy a loaf of bread again. I’m back to buying bread, but feel it was a worthwhile exercise.

So back to the crop, here’s our progress: exactly four small seedlings, a random weed sprout and two tiny mushrooms. Considering my shoddy seed-growing history (cats knock over pots, I neglect and forget to water, etc) and the fact that this little container was kicked over, not once, but twice — I consider this a great result. I planted Italian basil, Genovese Siberian tomatoes and rainbow cherry tomatoes, all heirloom. Since I neglected to label the seedlings, I have no idea what’s sprouting here but whichever it is, it’ll be a happy surprise.

And like seeds, songs need just the right amount of care, patience and fertile ground to grow. (See what I did there? Brought it back around to the album!) And as seen in my seed tray, sometimes you plant 6 pots and only 2 grow. So it goes… And you water and nurture those two, give them love and lots of light, and hope that one day they’ll bear some damn fruit so you can feed your family.