Give me a task to DO

“I need a task to do, someone give me a task to do!” ~ Jo March

February. The time of year when 90 percent of journal entries surround the impatience we feel to be outside in the dirt, coaxing food from the soil and putting our muscles to work. My muscles are longing to be used. Sometimes I feel jilted by the modern age, cheated out of the honest effort it would have taken me in ye old days to draw water from the well, ride a horse, and make all our clothes myself. But there I go again, romanticizing the past, and I am grateful for our dishwasher and nice little car.

But CHORES…they do a person good. Even just a few of them.

It is too early to do any gardening beyond plans, and it’s too cold to be outside unless you’re moving. On a Saturday a few weeks back, the sun came out and the earth had that moist, musky smell and I was just searching for a piece of work I could do outside. So I took a shovel and I turned our compost pile, which served to wake up a few of the muscles that don’t get used in my regular 9 to 5. More than that, I feel like my soul is waking up.

We hardly had a winter. I actually felt a little sad thinking about it the other day. I was so excited when the days got shorter and we had our long, cozy nights inside by candlelight. There is something about the bleakness of a frigid, snowy winter that heightens the color of every other aspect of life. The snow never really came for real, though, and so it seems we never fully dove in. Now the days are getting longer, and strangely I wish winter would have lasted a little longer. I don’t think I have ever said that before. Am I getting more ridiculous and romantic in my old age?

(Speaking of age, I am now a quarter of a century old.)

Don’t misunderstand me; I am ready for spring. We all need the sun to break again. And I need to get outside and DO something instead of just watching the Office…

February to-do list: research strawberry plants, build rabbit pen, build indoor shelves for flower seedlings, organize seed inventory, clean out freezers, get outside for a walk every day to keep from going crazy. And give thanks. Even the darkest night will end and the sun will rise.