Joni Mitchell, "Woodstock" *
I have finally gotten a chance to plant some vegetables in the garden. It's nothing amazing, just some tomatoes, pepper, squash, and herbs, but I've very happy I finally did it. Here's a picture of the basil growing. It was one of the more mature looking plants I transferred, so that's why I chose it as the photographic subject.:
I actually started working on the garden a few weeks ago. We didn't really use it last year, and a bunch of weeds and seedlings had started to grow in the plot, so a little more than a month ago I cleared it out. with the intention of picking up some plants in the next few days and starting it up again.
Then things kept happening. Or, perhaps it would be more accurate to say that I kept procrastinating. And before I knew it, Memorial Day weekend had come and summer was officially here.
And, needless to say, I had forgotten almost entirely about the garden at this point. Fortunately, my father was on his way to pick up some plants, and asked if I'd like to go with him and pick out some vegetables. I said "give me 15 minutes, I just want to make some progress in the game."
The game I was playing is called Rune Factory Frontier. I'd bought it a couple of years ago, played it for a while, and then gotten distracted. But it was a quiet weekend, and I had nothing planned for that morning, so I figured I would restart. It was only as I was saving the game that I realized the main activity in Rune Factory is gardening. It's one of those strange Japanese games where you spend most of your time planting crops, talking to people, and trying to form relationships with some of the ladies who you meet. You also travel to strange dungeons, such as the one in your neighbor's yard, or the one on a giant whale-shaped island. But fighting the monsters in the dungeon is really a secondary part of the game; it's not something you think about until you've harvested turnips or strawberries or whatever the season's crops are. In fact, part of the reason to fight monsters is so you can domesticate them on your farm, or clear away magic soil in the garden where you can grow more vegetables. Here's what the game looks like (though the version I play is in English):
Anyway, I put aside the virtual garden, temporarily, for the real one. I'm sure it's good soil, because I had to practically re-weed everything. Stuff wants to grow there. I know this sounds stupid, but I always forget how dirty dirt is. Most of my life doesn't involve interacting with soil, and it's strange to run your hands under the sink when you're done and see the water darkening as it washes the grime away.
But I am now looking forward to summer vegetables, which I will enjoy as I play video games.
* (When double checking the lyrics to this song before posting, I realized that Joni Mitchell and Crosby Stills Nash and Young have slightly different choruses. Mitchell doesn't mention the fact we are ancient carbon until the last verse, whereas CSNY points it out in each chorus. She only points out we are stardust and golden. I don't know if that significantly changes the meaning of the song or not.)
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