This is the time of year that is filled with hope and fear
of despair. That may not seem likely unless you, too are one who plants a
garden each year. You wait, just as the seed package advises, until the last
frost before planting, but that is an unknown time in these parts. It could be
the end of April, the middle of May, or even the first week or so of June.
There’s the despair.
The ground is worked, the rotted manure is spread and tilled
in, seeds are ready, and the forecasts change daily. Rows are plotted out, maps
are drawn, and the only thing missing is that last frost. When will we feel
safe? Tomorrow? Next week? Next month?
Pity the farmer who doesn’t have an out. No, not a
greenhouse, but something that takes up the time that would be spent working in
that beautiful garden, filled with green and yellow and red things that taste
good and are good for you. In my case, I’m lucky to be a writer. I pound on
this keyboard until my fingertips ache. I learned to type way back in the
fifties on an ancient Royal. I don’t have the foggiest idea how someone can
type with finger’s pads. One must pound those keys, with emphasis, using fingertips.
No one typing before the advent of electric machines and now
computers had elegantly styled fingernails. They wouldn’t last through the
morning’s memos. When spring arrives, I spend the first two or three hours in
the office, say from 5:30 to about 8:30, writing the next great American novel,
but unlike the winter or mid summer, at scene breaks or chapter breaks, I’m running
outside moving the water, chasing those pesky cottontails, or shooing off the
ravens.
The seeds are in, I have trust in NOA, that is, the weather
bureau, and we’ve had our last frost. But have we? The furrows are geometric
designs for the ages, the water system covers everything, and now, the sprouts
are emerging.
No! What do you mean cold front arriving overnight? No! I
just spread the last of the straw for the chickens. I wouldn’t need it for the
garden. The last frost, remember?
Come morning and the thermometer reads 41, not 31. Whew.
Write two chapters and at sunrise walk through the garden, searching for that
frost burned squash leaf, and can’t find one. Back to book three in the
Ezekiel’s Journey series, a smile, not a frown, and the garden is safe for one
more night.
The sprouts take form, get strong, grow toward the sun, the
corn will be thigh high on the Fourth of July, and the cucumbers and melons
will mature, beans will grow long and sweet, and pea pods will fill nicely.
Spring is finally over, the garden made it one more time, but I’m not sure
about my id.
The garden is green and orange and yellow and red, Ezekiel’s
Journey book three now has more than 20,000 words and a new character, Terrence
Corcoran is born and his first book has about 5,000 words pounded into its
manuscript. In the summer, it’s a case of doing the proper amount of watering,
getting down on your hands and knees ripping those blasted weeds from their
homes, and picking what’s ripe for tonight’s meal.
The words flow, the garden grows, and there is no fear of
Jack Frost. Oh, spring, you tease and taunt, and from time to time you let me
win. It’s a time of fear and despair, and at 5,000 feet above sea level in
northern Nevada, sometimes, joy.
Until next time, read good books and stay regular
Johnny Gunn
Will you join me on facebook from time to time?
Or Tweet with me, darlin’?
