It seems the snow has finally given way to rain. At least out here in my neck of the woods, anyway. I’m sitting here at my sweetheart’s, watching the rain fall. I can hear cheerful robins warbling and happy cardinals shouting, “birdie, birdie, birdie,” to each other in the damp undergrowth at the edge of the woods. Even one of our hens has joined the chorus, though her tune is a bit…different.

It sounds a bit like someone snuck up behind her and gave her tail feathers a good yank - on repeat. 

I go a little stir-crazy this time of year, don’t you? Perhaps that’s why I always end up putting a few sacrificial seedlings out in the garden too soon. (Don’t worry, it was mostly kale.) 

Maybe it’s not eternal hopefulness but sheer frustration as we’re stuck in that weird not-quite-winter-not-quite-spring-do-I-need-a-parka-or-a-raincoat-or-a-light-sweater period.

The urgency of spring is right around the corner, but winter is still having a final word. And here I am, inside, climbing the walls, ready to get on with it. Let’s start the next season already!  

And here I am, nose pressed to the greenhouse cover like some weirdo, each breath fogging and unfogging it, desperate to play in the dirt.

I’m pretty sure one of the cucumber seedlings just scooted closer to its neighbor. (I think word got out about the kale.)

Surely, if I put a few of those cabbages out in the polytunnel, it won’t be too cold for them, right? It’s Pennsylvania Dutch cabbage, and my Amish neighbors are all pretty hardy folks. Cabbage is cold-hardy, right? I mean, that’s what I told the dead kale seedlings that are out there now. 

Oh, but isn’t that the human condition?

We always want to be doing something when, often, the best course of action is to be still and wait. Be patient. When I was a kid, my dad was forever telling me, “Have patience before you become one.”  

We are terrible at letting things be. Being content with the present moment isn’t our strong suit. Humans are inexorable doers. I think we were poorly named as a species – Homosapiens – human beings. We should have been called – Homofacere – human doings.

Alright, my friends, I supposed I’d better stop making my seedlings nervous and go do something else for a while. Maybe I’ll make myself a cup of tea and sit by the window to listen to our chicken’s operatic renderings.

But don’t worry, little eggplants; I’ll be back to stare at you dementedly later.