Spring is finally here… according to the calendar. This year just may be the year of the greenhouse! There is a lot of thought going into this project. I don’t want to mess it up, type, size, materials, location. There is still snow on the ground here, with shaded areas continuing to hold moisture in the form of ice. Wandering around the property yesterday, it occurred to me that although it’s ten acres, we have a tendency to keep things in a little island clump surrounded by prairie. If only roads and gravel didn’t cost so much!!
I am so grateful for the internet and the opportunity to access the experience of others with the ease of a few keystrokes. Location location location is critical when building this greenhouse. According to Michelle Moore in her article “The Sunny Side of Life”
“If you are going to purchase or build a greenhouse, you’ll want it in the best place possible. The ideal location for a greenhouse has five attributes:
- enough space
- level and well drained
- maximum sun exposure
- easy access and proximity to your house
- protection from potential hazards such as falling tree branches.”
All of the above! However, the location will need reclaimed. A small chain link pen with designed to protect the cats heated winter shelter, that has become a crap catch all for broken down pots, and random bits and pieces will need to be cleaned up and relocated. A little extra work that I am ok with. Ironically when I suggested this location yesterday (before finding the check list online) I was met with opposition. Today is a different day. Reclaiming the location is the perfect opportunity to continue the Buddhist practice of non-attachment that will weave itself through the the season.
The easy location is wrong on most counts except protection from falling tree branches, and only because there are no trees. This exercise in determining greenhouse location is proof that doing the lazy, easy thing so often becomes preferable to doing the right thing. Could this be the theme of this year gardening/food growing journey taking shape? The easy/finite way or the value generating/capacity building way? There have also been a lot of references to Nordic culture, and celebration of events like Yule, Imbolc, and Ostara so perhaps a little blend.
I am so blessed with the little piece of sanctuary I live on. To not consider the value generating capacity would be to actively reject this blessing. My thoughts turn to other events of the weekend. Time spent with family, sunny afternoons contemplating and planning the greenhouse and gardens, and an Easter morning visit from a moose cow and her yearling twin calves. They didn’t stick around too long, but they are proof of abundance, a reminder that I made it through another winter and that optimism is good.
Cider a True Dreamer 12/06-02/16
Road Noises 