Happy Groundhog Day!

This is one of my favorite holidays of the year, marking the midpoint between winter solstice and spring equinox. It also marks the time when the sun is getting noticeably stronger, and plants and animals start stirring from their winter slumber. In our greenhouses, we start seeing lots of growth in February for spinach, salad greens, carrots, beets and other cold hardy  vegetables.

I've been trying to read Cheryl Strayed's "Wild" for the past few days, as a way of relaxing and doing something different. I usually like mountaineering / adventure books. But I can't get myself to like this one. At the risk of sounding really boring, and knowing that her book is super popular, I have to say that I find her description of how messed up her life was, and how she made all these poor choices, not very interesting. Also, the hiking part of it is not inspiring to me. I keep thinking that it will get better, and that there will be something that will reach me about it, but it's not happening, so I think I'm going to give it up. I'd just rather do something else than read about her messed up decisions and her one big hike that's supposed to prove that everything is OK. Pretty harsh, I know. Boring too, I know.

I read a book this past summer, that reminds me of "Wild" in some small ways, and that I loved. The author, Melissa Coleman, had also lived through a very tragic family event which shaped the rest of her life. There's no great hike in it, just a very unconventional way of life, with its daily trials and tribulations, all of which seem very authentic. The book is "This Life is in Your Hands". Beautiful, moving story. Check it out.

Peace