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Sprouts, Orchids, and Arctic Winds

ByElizabeth

This morning I misted the orchids.  None are blooming right now, but an orange catteleya I received as a gift several years ago is budding, as is my favorite epidendrum, which offers up a host of delicate, greenish, spidery blooms every February. It brightens my day to spend a little time tending the house plants when it is most wintry outside.

I rinsed sprouts.  I have both bean sprouts and a salad mixture going.  I started new batches of sprouts as soon as I returned from NYC.  I was grateful for the offerings at the grocery store, but pine for at least a little something truly fresh.  I’d had a little chard, parsley, and chives that made it through the snow storm.  Much to my surprise, I even managed to salvage enough from the garden to include in an omelet after the ice storm the other morning, but the day-time subfreezing temperatures and icy winds have finished off the outdoor garden until March.  I think I am going to get some burlap and start some micro-greens in addition to salad and bean sprouts.

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    Last Year’s Kale

    ByElizabeth

    To make room to plant seeds and seedlings of the cool weather greens, today I pulled most of the kale that overwintered.  I’m not quite sure how it survived even the visitation of the polar vortices, but my garden is its own private mystery.

    Uma’s not sure whether the kale is any good, but it is actually neither too bitter, nor too tough to be edible, though it will need to be picked over well and would be best cooked thoroughly.

    To go with the kale, keeping in mind the next wintry front coming through, I am soaking chickpeas overnight.  Tomorrow I will braise the kale with wine, garlic, rosemary, and onions, and then stew it together with the chickpeas.  The combination of braising and stewing will make tenderize the kale, but still keep it  flavorful.

    With what I planted new today, the next time it is feeling spring-like, there should be some tender new greens to pick and taste.

    kale 1a kale 1b kale 1c

     

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    In Which I Develop a Newly Expanded Appreciation for Dahlias

    ByElizabeth

    Last week, when my friend Suzanne and I were walking out of the Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park to catch the bus back downtown, we came across an island of dahlias in the middle of the parking lot.  We were filled with excitement and joy at the outrageous effulgence.  In the past, I’ve never had any particular feelings one way or the other about dahlias, though I knew that gardeners can get completely obsessed with them.  This exuberant showing gave me a flash of insight as to why dahlias can inflame passion and dedication.  It was a sweet reminder always to be open to new wonder, even from things we have previously experienced and thought we knew.

     

     

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    Snowdrops and Crocuses (and Spanda)

    ByElizabeth

    Snowdrops have been showing up for more than a week, but crocuses?  They seem a little incongruous with the bitter winds and as much a reminder of global warming as of spring.  I feel a bit confused seeing them, though delighted.

    It has been a good winter.  I have learned to appreciate the cold and dark, which gives us time to enjoy the pleasures of home and introspection.  Now, I am looking forward to spring, the effusive colors, the warmth, the ability to get back out into the garden.

    This time of year, with the radical contrasts of cold winds and flowers does highlight the play of opposites, the very pulsation of existence — in yoga terms, the spanda.  This time in society seems to have a similar play of bitterness and sweetness.  Staying steady with our yoga practice and our community, we can delight in what we see and what we have, even as we may be worried and working for change.  That too, is part of the play (lila).  To invite in a steady warmth and support from our practice and our community, even as we see difficulties and challenges, want things to be different, and know that our work may not necessarily bring about the change we seek.

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    Serenity Saturday Today (at Capitol Hill Yoga)

    ByElizabeth

    If you are in town today and feeling the need for some R&R, please come join us at Capitol Hill Yoga (scroll down the page, past the Itsy Bitsy workshops, for SS info) today for this month’s Serenity Saturday.

    It has been a long work week, and yesterday I though that I’d like to be taking a two hour afternoon restorative workshop myself this weekend.  Last night I gave my self serenity Friday night (not so alliterative).

    I’d been feeling a bit testy, and my thoughts were starting to be somewhat all over the place.  I stepped back and thought about all that I’d put into my consciousness in the past couple of weeks: how many work telephone conferences and meetings in which I’d participated, how much the email and other computer communications, how many errands, movies I’d seen, parties I’d gone to, etc.

    Diagnosis:  overstimulated.  So instead of going out and getting more stimulated (which can be the immediate reaction to feeling like one wants to get away from work and errand thoughts), I stayed home, cleaned the house, and did a long combination restorative, recumbent, and forward bending practice.  This morning I woke up refreshed and newly receptive, ready to teach all day and share the yoga.

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