Covid Spring

The world outside is a different place from anything we have ever known. The air is fresher and cleaner, people are out walking and biking. There is no traffic, anytime, anywhere in the city. People are keeping their distance from one another, but I am talking to my neighbours (from a distance) far more than I ever have. Actually, not a big difference from usual at this time of year with Iulia and her family next door, but I am reacquainting myself with neighbours who otherwise I see only when one of us has a car stuck in a snowbank and needs a hand pushing. Now we are exchanging names and inquiring how we are managing. 

I have been blessed in the past two months. I have been healthy, possibly more than usual because I have not even caught a cold. I have had the pleasure of a lot of time with my three adult children, because they are actually home. Well, two of them are, the third one is camping out in my mom's apartment while she is self-isolating (or social distancing? or just laying low) up in the Laurentians where there are almost no cases of the virus. She is painting and making home-made masks, going for walks in the woods (or snowshoeing until recently), and watching the ice on the lake finally melting. If you have to stay home, why not do it in paradise? I actually went to visit, completely outside and from a semi-social distance last weekend. There was still snow in patches. We watched a frustrated duck carefully stepping across the ice between melted patches. I was the first time in over a month that I saw my mom and my brother, and I still feel like I was cheating. 

Despite the unseasonably cold spring, we had a few glorious sunny days. I took the sprouts out of the basement and gave them an hour of sunshine last weekend, but since they have retreated under my fluorescent light in the laundry room. Given that I am expecting there will be disruption in agricultural over the summer, I am going to plant my garden to capacity with no fallow areas. This is hopefully going to work, because I have an unusual situation. Due to the pandemic, I am working from home. As a college teacher, this took a lot of creativity. I redesigned my courses into "do it yourself" guidebooks, with final assignments due in mid May. I use my class time for virtual office hours, using a chatroom or if students request, live video conferencing. So I had a lot of work at the beginning of the lockdown period, redoing all my course materials, explaining the altered assignments, supporting students through this weird time. And in the past week or so, things have slowed to a trickle. The students who were able to have handed in their assignments and some have finished the course. The rest (most of them) are waiting to hand in my assignments on the due date. Other teachers were staggering assignments, and many felt quite overwhelmed, so I reassured them that they could wait to do my assignments. Many did. Which leaves me with the time to weed my garden a full month before I usually have the time to do it.  This means I am catching the dandelions before they go to seed. I am not ripping out all of them (that would be mission impossible, anyways), so that the bees that have already started to appear will have something to eat. I am also making great strides in my campaign to eradicate creeping bellflower from my vegetable garden. The areas that I worked on last summer are mostly still clear, and where they are popping up I am digging (and digging and digging) almost two feet deep into pure clay to get the deepest roots out. I can take me two hours to clear one plant out of a square foot of garden. But, as you can see in the photo of my baby garlic plants, it is finally working! I still have some patches which I did not get to in the last two years, so I have some busy and painful weeks ahead. I am trying to limit myself to an hour or two daily, otherwise I get carpal tunnel syndrome and cannot do anything. I have some wonderful helpers! My son, who is very concerned about these apocalyptic times, has taken a bigger interest in the garden this year, and his girlfriend has been helping too. I have at least one friend who offered to help so far this week. My garden is huge, so it is easy to socially distance. I will happily swap labour for produce! 

We are still having frosts overnight, so there is no early planting this year. I want to be very careful, after having lost my tomato plants last year putting them out for too long on the first sunny day of May. I am taking it slow and careful. Sprouting in the basement are tomatoes, basil, watermelon, rapini, romaine lettuce, broccoli, sunflowers, coleus and dusty millers. Some of the seeds are a few years old, so I am not sure they will all sprout, but I wanted to get rid of them so I am trying anyways. I also have been planting the bottoms of leeks and green onions outside. As soon as it is past the frost day (late May) I will be planting the three sisters (squash, corn and beans) as well as a whole bag of potatoes from Isaac's girlfriend which have started to grow. I am clearing spaces as thoroughly as I can. 

The first of my tulips just bloomed. I have already had crocuses and squills (sorry, no pictures of those), and now the hyacinths and lung wort and blood wort are in full bloom (gorgeous flowers with horrible names, part of my "organ" garden). It is the greatest antidote for Covid anxiety. When I am in the garden listening to the robins and cardinals chirping, seeing the first of the bees and butterflies despite the need to wear my winter coat, it is hard to think of anything but the beauty and the continuity of life.