Busy, busy!

  What a good week, mostly!  The first apricot-trumpet daffodils opened, heralding in three full days of sunshine!  Carrots, more peas, kohlrabi and beets were direct seeded, and the first of the broccoli plants were set into their bed.  All really benefited from an overnight soaking rain and then lovely sunshine combined with 70 degree temps!  The South Island, Potager Exterior Border  and Cutting Gardens were cleaned, filling all my bags and baskets with leaves and stems.  I’d hoped to haul them to the compost pile on the golf cart, but apparently a switch has gone bad and it won’t reverse, so it’s now at the repair shop waiting for parts.  Next day I made a start on cleaning the Fairy Garden.  Since it slopes so much, I like to mulch as soon as the old debris is removed, but I couldn’t get mulch so work there was halted.  Sadly, the brakes went out on my truck.  It’s now also in a local shop awaiting parts, so mulching must wait.

During “rest time” between stints of gardening, work was done putting together a presentation on the “Herb of the Year, Anise Hyssop” for the annual spring symposium hosted by the Herb Society of Central Indiana.  My Power Point presentation was emailed, which was the first time I’d done that.  Skeptic that I am, I also put it on a flash drive to take along as a “just in case,” but it was there and worked just fine.  The wonders of technology continue to amaze me.  The event was held near Indianapolis, so Friday I drove down with my set up for selling books, the three silent auction items donated, and 4 quarts of elderberry-anise hyssop syrup to be used by the morning breakfast makers.  Traffic was terrible due to road construction, but it was good that I became aware so the timeline for Saturday could be recalculated.  I’d intended to take my truck, hoping to get a load of  bagged cow manure on the way home, but of course that didn’t happen, and it’s probably a good thing since I wouldn’t have had time to unload it.  Once back home in late afternoon, it was time to do all the prep for the cooking part of the presentation, get the dessert baked for show & tell, and pack the SUV.  In the rush to get the dessert baked, I somehow dropped a cast iron skillet on the oven door, breaking the glass window.  (In case you were counting, yes, that’s 3 broken items this week, so my luck should change.)  There is a second oven so the dessert was finished, a lovely peach-anise hyssop tart.     Happily, all went well on the trip down early Saturday morn, set up was finished easily, and the presentation went well. I like being the first speaker of the day, because there is more time for leisurely/complete set-up and the audience is filled with anticipation (and a tasty morning treat including lots of tea and coffee!)  and happy.   I demo’d “Chinese Beef with Anise Hyssop” and a “Pear Salad with Anise Hyssop” using spinach, burgundy-leaved radicchio and dandelion greens from the potager!   There were some good questions, and the photographs in the Power Point segment looked beautiful.  Afterwards, I manned my table and signed books.      It was great to see a lot of old customers and valued friends, and I purchased a couple of beautiful scented geranium plants from the plant sale.  Just as soon as the event was over, I rushed home via a route without road construction because I’d received a notice on my phone (amazing technology again!) that the strawberry and rhubarb plants from Indiana Berry Company had been delivered.  A quick change of clothes and I was in the potager, planting 50 strawberry plants before darkness arrived.  Then I unloaded the SUV, put the soiled items in the dishwasher and happily headed for bed, listening to the pouring rain, which continued all of Sunday!  That’s my busy, fun week.  Hope yours was the same!