Planting Foo

Yesterday I planted 105 peppers - habanero, kong pow, black pearl, jalepeno, corno verde, gypsy, parks whopper banana and then my sweet bells, chocolate beauty, gourmet, islander and an entire flat of jupiter. I am going to hit restaurants with bell peppers.

Today I want to plant 100 tomatoes - I know I won't cuz I really intend to get the hoses and the mulching done and I don't have the materials for the mulching. I also plan to plant all my eggplant - (plan/plant/eggplant - can't help it - just turns out sounding repetitive).

Della came out to care for the bees - she coos over the girls and speaks lovingly to them - I smile as I tuck peppers into the ground - then I tell them to sit tight - I will water them into the next day. Most of my cole crops look so pretty except for the weeds that are trying to get toe holds - mulch sits in bags unground - my grass is unmowed, my feet are getting tired and my skin is getting brown. I am not sitting still - tomatoes are being tucked into pots for resale at market - plants being arranged for better viewing and Jenks market may be in trouble again - insurance went from $169 to $503 - market doesn't make enough to justify those costs. It gets to where I don't wanna do this - the OTC is trying to force us to buy permits and collect taxes - for 17 years I have paid my damn taxes - I won't become their lacky. Put me in jail.

I have a lot of left over tomato plants - I plan to use existing fence row for a lot of them - stake and weave where there is no fence row - the plants are indeterminate - they won't last the summer and David suggested we plant another flat of parks whopper in about 6 weeks - sometimes he is brilliant.

I am da FOO who will plant all day today and probably most of tomorrow - best of luck all of ya.

Sudden Death

Just got home from the local feed store - Farmers Feed in Sapulpa. They just lost a son and brother. Sam and Kay Johnson own it - the kids work there - and one of the sons died. This guy has loaded feed and hay into our vehicles for 20 years or more - and it was shocking to me. We forget just how short life is and how quickly it can be taken away. I heard the story but my heart is way to tender and I had to walk out - tears were rolling down my face as I approached our truck that was parked near the cattle panels that I needed to move my plants out of the greenhouse.

It wasn't that he was a close family friend - it was the fact that this handsome, strong, muscular man's life was just snuffed out - gone so quickly to an outsider who didn't know he had cancer. We don't see what is wrong in other peoples lives - we don't tell others our own horror stories as we wage war with emotional pain or deep illnesses.

The greenhouse business makes me nuts - I get very stressed out this time of year and for all intents and purposes, I must get my butt outside and work to get it all ready for sales at Herb Day at Brookside start this next Saturday. And I am so stupid for letting it get to me - that all this stress piles on me and I become a nutcase crazy bitch. Maybe I can slow my mind down and try to enjoy the process - after all, any one of us could die between now and tomorrow.

And then there is the taxes - death and taxes - life's only guarantee.