A Distant Soil by Colleen Doran

I am a week ahead of schedule on my new GN for Vertigo Gone to Amerikay, and I hope to be three weeks ahead of schedule by the end of next month. I will then workbomb Stealth Tribes and if I get ahead of Warren on script again, I go back to A Distant Soil with the extra time. (OOP! Forgot to add, doing a job for Marvel as well.)

Feels absolutely great to be in this work flow, so energetic and motivated. Everything going very well and I am completely happy with the balance of work and personal. I was able to take a day off for family this week, and a day off for garden work, and that left me so sore today that I can do nothing but sit and draw, so that is where I will be today.

The only down news: car seems to be completely dead. Do not relish the idea of buying a new car. At least, if I have to buy one, they are dead cheap now. Just saw a used Mercedes for less than $10,000! Holy cow. Don’t want it, but feels funny to know I could just go buy a Mercedes at that price.

I think I will stick with a modest, practical car. No rush, I don’t need one right now.

I rarely even drive my own car – I had loaned it out to a relative when it died. I have not been able to get into the city or see a movie or anything, which is a bummer. It looks like I will be seeing Watchmen on dvd. And I am slow getting packages out because I can’t go anywhere right now. Good thing I don’t do mail order. Of course, being stuck at home means I get a lot of work done, which may be for the best.

Anyway, happy times. The vegetable garden in progress:

The big white sheets are floating row covers which let air and water in, but keep the frost off. We get frost as late as May 10. Turnips, beets, collards, kale, carrots (2 varieties), peas, cabbages, broccoli, celery, basil, tomatoes (7 varieties), spinach, garlic, onions, nasturtiums, corn salad.

The big tubs are barrels from a local winery, which we have cut in half. They house the potatoes. Almost all crops are in raised beds or planters to deter hungry animals from eating the entire crop from roots up.

Cabbages have such pretty flowers that when they bolt, I keep some for decoration. These cabbages lasted all winter with row cover protection, and we harvested a few heads last month. The cold can make bitter greens, but not always. These cabbages were very sweet. Cabbages, collards, kale and belgian endive all get lovely flowers. We make bouquets for the table from them, and some smell strongly of honey.

Tulips planted with blooming cabbages look very pretty to me. The parsley loves it here, and the butterfly larvae love the parsley. I plant extra for them to eat.

The trail leading to the barn. I’ve planted about 2000 bulbs here and intend to plants thousands more.

Usually the vermin get all the tulips, but this year we have been very lucky and have been able to enjoy the flowers. And if we ever get hungry enough, tulip bulbs are people food, too. You can crush them into flour, but I wouldn’t want to.

A redbud tree blooms before a dogwood, which is just starting to show. This will be spectacular in a couple of days. With any luck, we won’t get another major frost.

I can’t recall a cool, lingering spring season like this. I guess global warming hasn’t reached us yet. The flowers love it, but summer crops will go in late. All of my tomatoes are still in pots waiting to go outside.

Anyway, I will sign off and stay on my work goal. Hope you like the photos.

c