Yesterday I got tired of my small house being a plant nursery. Pots, plants, bags of soil, sprouting mung and clover seeds on the kitchen counter, not to mention the ongoing container of compostables for the neighbor’s young chickens or the compost pile all are in one’s view but kept out of the way of my walker. Nothing to do about it but get over the mood. Plants don’t go in the ground for another two full weeks.

Most of the plants go outside every morning and have to be brought in each evening or when the west wind picks up around 4 pm. It’s a lot of work. I do as much as possible, neighbor and friend, Jane, helps with the potted tomato plants. Such an angel.

We are doing this to see if we can actually, factually grow most of our own vegetable produce through the year. A greenhouse is being researched, fruiting trees and bushes appropriate for this altitude (7700ft) and the drop in night time temperatures are too. Success has been limited to leafy greens, microgreens, sprouts, and plants started for the raised beds. Yeah!

But, the most cool thing about having all this life around me is that my body now calls for it. I walk passed a container of sprouts, and my body says “hey, stop, I want some right now.” Or today, lunch was two open-faced tuna with celery sandwiches and a generous pile of undressed straight-from-the sage fields baby lamb’s ear spinach; and as I walk passed the arugula growing it is container, my body said, “Put some on the tuna.” I tried to keep walking, figuring the pile of lamb’s ear spinach was plenty of yummy greens, but NO, my body almost would not lift a leg to move. “Arugula on the tuna,” the devas of this body insisted. And, yes, it was delicious.

So, I figure that my body is getting phyto-nutrients in amounts never before in its life. Once again my friends, growing the microgreens, the sprouts, and the hydroponic lettuces has been very easy. Do it for yourself, do it with a child, do it with and for someone who’s mind is failing. They physical body prefers botanical nutrition as the majority of what’s on a plate. The more varied (even if only seasonally), the better.

Oh, did I mention that wild asparagus is being harvested too? Yup!