garden sanctuary

Things are not really okay right now. In many ways, it's been a hard weekend. Without going into any of it, I will mention that my anxiety levels have been through the roof. And let me tell you, that's not a very fun way to live life. The other day, my anxiety attacked me when I was at work. I felt so nervous that I felt like I could cry. And nothing was happening. It was just a Thursday afternoon.

What has helped me this weekend was all the times I spent out in the dirt. (I actually took Friday afternoon, just to garden… and also because I have been working a lot). My garden is often my sanctuary, or at least it brings me a certain level of accomplishment and comfort being in there. Plus, it kind of rained this week so Thursday and Friday were relatively cool days. (Think mid-70s. It was amazing).

potato plant

My poor garden is hanging in there. When I came back from New Mexico, it was already in a sorry state. There were several days in triple digits, which makes my garden very cranky. I think it's going to pull through though (thanks to some help from some miracle grow. Yes. I use chemicals. I wish I didn't but I so want my tomatoes to survive that at some point in the season I usually stoop to that level. This year, it happened really early).

Last springs was such a glorious spring for spinach (thanks to the raised beds I had at my sister's house). This year, not so much. It came up in strange patches and thanks to the heat, it hasn't done very well. I am thankful though that I have been able to eat a few meals with it though (which was the first of the season). I guess that's all I can really hope for when spring is about 1 week long.

chomp chomp supper

Even if it doesn't sound like it, I do find joy in my garden. The fact that it is not as large as last year is alone worth celebrating. And this year, I actually bought tomato cages and am trying to be very pro-active against the weeds.

I am very excited to eat all the yummy things that will come out of it. Speaking of good food, this weekend might've been emotionally insane, but at the least we had some very delicious things to eat.

For supper on Friday evening, Levent and I had chipotle chicken kabobs with avocado cream sauce and cilantro lime rice. (ah!!!) So good.

Yesterday evening, we went to our friends' house (who are moving in a few weeks). We had a cookout and for a side dish to share I brought a black bean, corn and avocado salad, which we ate with tortilla chips Levent brought. Another winner.

Also, on Friday morning, I ate a strawberry yogurt popsicle for breakfast. (It was very average, but super fun to eat at work).

Regardless of the craziness of Kansas' weather, I am pretty pumped for the upcoming spring/summer meals. 

yum.