Blood, Sweat and Tears Food for Thought Life in the Country
by Alice
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Catching Up
This will have to serve as an all-encompassing catch up. Where to begin?
I broke another toe. Actually the same toe for I believe the third time. It wasn’t exactly healed from the last time. Now I’m back in the swollen, angry, can’t touch it phase again. At least I can walk. The culprit this time was my partner’s Grundig shortwave radio, which we keep beside the bed and carry around the house to listen to radio programs. We both have been kicking it, falling over it for weeks. It should have been out of the way where it was. It wasn’t.
Exercise has been working in the garden. We dug rows for potatoes, in the fashion of double digging. We have an Aztec trench garden because until September it will rain like we’re in Thailand. It didn’t always do this, but ever since the year we worked in several feet of mud, we haven’t been able to garden without them.
We planted Yukon and Peruvian Purple (an old Indian variety from high in the Andes) potatoes on Easter, because my partner said that’s tradition. We cut them the day before, luckily, because one in the bag was going south. He insisted on cutting them into smaller pieces, refusing to listen to my entreaty that we couldn’t plant that many. He said he was trying to do it The Right Way. Which led to an argument that was quickly resolved. The next day, he admitted we would never plant all of these potatoes. Exactly.
We also cut some of our willows to fill in the treeline. It is a first try method to see if we can get them to root on their own, something J has wanted to try for a long time. I’m happy because they start off several feet tall instead of cutting size and I don’t have to buy more, wait for them to ship, and then feel guilty as they sit waiting, dying.
After working outside, we came in and cleaned up and began work for the evening and preparation of supper. I got incredibly shaky, couldn’t focus (even more than usual), and felt weird. After we ate and a few food minutes passed, I felt better and fully recovered. I’d been eating all day, so I’m not sure why, but we both think I had a blood sugar crash. It didn’t seem like I worked that hard.
We were going to replant some of our seedlings, but last night’s watering and J probing with a toothpick revealed that they are still trying to sprout. It has just been too cold and dreary or at least not warm and light enough where they are. Days like today, where we race for clothes and to turn up the thermostat, I have to agree with them.
We’ve been getting things done without planning, which is pretty neat. We fixed the back door frame that we cracked a long time ago. Fixed my flat. Cleaned up around the garden some.
I feel guilty often that the house isn’t perfectly clean, even though I’m home all the time. But I’m home working and I still do chores. Some of this house just can’t be cleaned. It is too old and messed up. Most of what should be clean is clean, we just aren’t manic about chores. I’m glad J doesn’t expect me to clean or blame me when I don’t. It is upsetting to know that I am imposing sexist expectations on myself. They seem to be tightly programmed in. It doesn’t help that I am a perfectionist and prefer things Very Neat. I really had to learn to adapt to his piles. I also got to adapt to his more laid back idea of chores. It was a nice tradeoff. But if my mother were to see the house, I’m sure she’d disapprove. She used to remark on my former sister in law’s cleaning, which was constant. My house is truly clean, though, not the clean most people attempt- where it looks good, but all of the hidden dirt and filth they’ve tracked in is on every surface.
I am having a sugar craving session like nobody’s business. We’re going to far town today and they HAD BETTER HAVE MY ICE CREAM THIS TIME. I put in a request through my usually responsive co-op. They ignored me. : / Over the weekend I complained sadly about having no Easter basket, so we went to the little store a couple of times to get small sweet treats. Some of the few I can eat from a regular store.
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