Missoula and gardening

Elliott and I are halfway through our "just the two of us" trip to Missoula. It has been a good trip to take, yet a really, really tough one. I knew it was going to be tough before we left. Elliott is working on getting over a cold, he's hugely attached to Daddy right now and is very much a home-body, familiar stuff is good, kinda kid these days. None of that is bad, really, but it makes for a tough trip. Missoula trips are always super busy. Lots of family to visit, lots of rushing from place to place. I think I've done a fairly okay job at slowing down the pace, making sure Elliott has his rest time and we've been talking through the transitions together. I've noticed a big increase in his requests to nurse. Not from boredom, but for comfort. At night he's been holding onto me, wanting contact almost constantly.

I'm glad we made the trip, despite the challenges. It has been a year and three months since our last trip. That's the longest I've ever been away from Missoula in my whole life. My dear, dear Grandma Daphne is looking more and more tired. She's completely lost sight in her right eye, her memory is not good and I feel so badly that I'm not here to keep her company all the time. I think she might be a bit lonely. It's so hard to not be able to help those you love the most in the best way you can because of miles of space. I'll keep up the calls to her though. I think that's the best I can do for now. It's tough.

My mind, while busy, busy here, is preoccupied with my garden. I really hope the seed catalog came in the mail while we were gone. I'm ready to get ordering! Before leaving, Elliott and I went to the McCoy Community Garden to check out my plot. I'm excited about the plot and the space, but am nervous about the garden. The garden is located directly next to the playground in the big central park in New Columbia. The playground was filled with kids (older kids, like middle schoolish, late elementary). Elliott and I went to the playground after checking out my plot and while we were on the swings I noticed a couple of boys trying to climb the fence into the garden. The bigger kid didn't make it over the fence, but the slimmer one did, and proceeded to stomp through people's plots. I was aghast and started to obsess about my plot. Its the closest to the playground, so it has the potential to get stomped on. I'm not debating what crops to put in, but what will survive possible adolescent male tennis shoe stomping. I'm upset that I even have to take this into consideration.

But stuff I'm excited about for this spring:

1. clearing out the plot, which is a FREAKING HUGE mess. Huge, folks. I think I'll need a day where Elliott and Daddy come with me to the garden and Nate keeps track of Elliott/helps me and I'll focus on plot clear-age.

2. Then I need to figure out what the protocol is for compost delivery to amend the soil.

3. finalize what to plant in the plot. Right now I'm thinking: rhubarb, potatoes (in a bin, possibly, less stomp-able), asparagus, corn/squash/beans later in the summer.

4. finalize what to plan in the home garden. I think I need to add a couple more herbs, beans, tomatoes, eggplant, sweet peppers, hot peppers, beets...

5. Order gravel to finish the pathway.

6. Order compost for the home garden.

7. seed the peas! Whoo hoo!

Okay, I should go to bed soon. Onto another busy today tomorrow!