Monday, April 5, 2010

Herbs = Blissfully Happy

Herbs make me happy...seriously they do! I love seeing, smelling and cooking with them. Have I ever had my own herb garden? Well no...or at least not until today. Why is it that since I was a girl I have not had an herb garden? I've transplanted more ferns, wild rose bushes, moss and trees in my parents yard since I was like 8...just ask Betsy and the Chisum Boys...errr...Men. And so how is it that my absolute love for plants, gardening and the outdoors has not as of yet yielded an herb garden or pot? Well its really rather simple. My parents house was in the woods and therefore nothing but shade loving plants like moss and ferns would grow. Tragically during my adult life I have been a renter with either no yard or poor area for planting.




About 3 weeks ago Gary was doing demo and cleanup at a house of someone who had passed away. Kinda creepy but someones gotta do it I guess. Anyway, during the day he called to see if I wanted a planter that was going to the dump otherwise. I expected a tired ole' terra cotta pot all covered in moss which is classic of such pots in the Pacific Northwest. And no it does not rain everyday...just a lot. To make up for the rain though our summers are amazing and somehow everything is almost always green. Back to the pot...it was really nice. So my lovely blue pot has been sitting empty waiting for the frost to leave which I think it has.

This morning I met up with two dear friends who I've known forever or nearly forever. Since we were kids and young teens at least. Christina, Bethany & I took our boys, all 5 of them ranging from 7 weeks to 3 years old, to Jump Planet which is basically a warehouse full of huge inflatable bouncy toys. Of course getting out of the house is never without its drama of last minute diaper changes, getting the clean diapers out of the dryer (yes we cloth diaper), chasing Caleb around and threatening to cancel on "Rain-aa & Lie-us", aka Ranen and Elias.  Despite my good intentions of leaving the house at 8:30am it was more like 8:53am. Oh well at least I had the time wrong on the kids under 6 free jump so we ended up being 15 minutes early instead of late.


After the boys got their wiggles out and us moms caught up on life we headed to the parking lot. Naturally Jude decided to wake up just as I was loading him into his infant carrier from the Moby Wrap. We made it a minute or two down the road to the bank to make a deposit - thank you Chase for drive-through banking - and then Jude decided indeed he was starving. I pulled through the drive-through and parked the car because I knew we wouldn't be able to make it home. So there we sat while Jude ate to his hearts content. It is at moments like these I am so thankful that our nursing sessions only take 8 minutes or less. This is assuming there are no choking sessions due to an overactive let down. My poor boys! I digress.

On our route home I saw the Yakima Fruit Market and swung the Forester into the parking lot. Pretty much when this lovely local fruit market reopens every spring I get super excited because it means the sun and its warmth will once again be my companions.  The market has an outdoor section with plants which I always find so enticing. I unloaded the boys and ventured into my little heaven. I could seriously look at plants and natural skincare products for hours. I went straight to the herbs. First of course I had to have Italian parsley, being Italian and all...or rather should I say of Italian descent. I am American and there's just no getting away from that. Then it was rosemary. I went with Tuscan Blue followed by Thyme and Spearmint. Pretty sure I'm going back for the chives and oregano which I of course can't live without. As for my absolute favorite, basil, well I know better. Our temperatures are still to low and we just don't have the sun for it indoors. Plus I think Caleb would destroy it as he has already been pulling pink flowers off a plant Ryan & Maria gave me when Jude was born.

With my lovely herbs loaded in their cardboard boxes I started towards the checkouts. Of course this meant pulling Caleb away from the bubbles that some very wise owners/manager/employees had placed for small people. Pretty sure the plants don't get picked to death with this creative diversion. Naturally when I got to the checkout stand I found my debit card was missing or rather not replaced in its proper location. Remember the stop at the bank? Well the card was still sitting on the passenger seat in the car. Back we went and a few minutes later I was the proud owner of 4 herb plants and one bag of potting soil. Yeah!!!!



As I pulled out of the parking lot I heard something fall over in the back...I was pretty sure it was the jump-seat for the new stroller which is currently in the shop getting repaired (more on that another time). The only problem was that in its direct line of fall...my newly purchased herbs. I pulled into the nearest driveway and made my way to the back. As I suspected the herbs were somewhat crushed...Classic. Thankfully not too many were broken.  The rest of the drive the smell of my herbs filled the car with their sweet and refreshing aroma.

Caleb and I had a great time planting and we are now the proud owners of 4 different herbs and one fine looking pot. Its hard to believe its only taken me till I was nearly 30 to realize this little dream for myself. So today...my Parsley, Rosemary, Thyme and Spearmint make me oh so happy! Today I can say has been a good day and I did something with my son that was a first for the both of us. Thanks Caleb for being mommies little helper. Love you buddy even if I don't always act like it. Now if only I can keep him from digging in the freshly potted planter with his rubber shark!

2 comments:

  1. we are just about to start composting and starting a mini herb garden too! yours is so pretty.

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