Diggin' Mother's Day

I can unabashedly admit that one of my favorite days of the year is Mother's Day. This is the one day I generally refuse to do anything even remotely productive. At the very least, I shirk my usual responsibilities, deferring instead to my [extremely capable] hubby.

Kids need to get dressed?

Your turn, honey.

Time for breakfast?

Ask Dad what he's cooking.

Can't find your missing shoe?

Oh well. Go barefoot.

I figure I'm entitled to such lackadaisical behavior 1/365th of the year. Reveling in this kind of passive protest is really just a brief anecdote to my normal, everyday rush. After all, most days I feel like I'm sprinting through life at break-neck speeds; I might as well take a measly 24 hours to halt and relish the beauty of doing... well... nothing.

It's not that I desire to be spoiled monetarily on Mother's Day... not at all. I don't ask for lavish gifts or fancy outings. Reservations at an expensive restaurant are the last thing on my mind. In fact, my formula for a perfect Mother's Day goes something like this:

(cup of coffee + a good book + comfy chair tucked in a sunny spot) - (whining kids + constant interruptions + sibling rivalry) = one happy mommy

a favorite outdoor reading locale

Now, if you can work a little gardening into this equation, my level of joy increases exponentially! And because my husband recognizes this about me, he and the children gave me the PERFECT Mother's Day gift this year: some fruitful additions to Pocket Square Farm.

My family planted two apple trees in the front yard; a fuji and a pink lady. The pink lady is already bearing fruit. We planted them very close together, and as they grow we will prune the inside branches and allow the outer branches to grow in an open basket arrangement. In the end, the two varieties of trees will take the shape of one larger tree, with the added advantage of cross pollination.

My boys used two wheel barrels full of freshly finished, homemade compost to plant these trees. The compost shone warmly in the sun, and it smelled sweet as can be. It was so rewarding NOT to have to buy plastic bags full of compost made elsewhere and shipped to Long Beach. This is what sustainability is all about: Yesterday's rotten apple peels are nourishing tomorrow's apples, all within our small urban plot.

In the back, on the same side of the yard, they planted two orange trees for me: a valencia for juicing and a navel for eating. I'm guessing it will take a few years for these to really be productive, but it will be worth the wait. In the meantime, we look forward to the bright, wafting scent of orange blossoms dancing in the breeze.

Because our blueberry patch was looking a little "underwhelmed" with only two bushes in the designated raised bed, we added two more blueberry bushes for good measure. I realize that these plants may seem to be crowded, but I generally go by a "plant as many plants as you possibly can in the space you have" mentality, so I'm really not worried. If they get too big in the future, I can just prune back the inner branches similar to the apple trees. As for now, we're enjoying handfuls of fresh blueberries once or twice a week. Our mouths are watering looking forward to homemade blueberry muffins at the height of berry season.

In the end, I got just what I wanted: some time with my family in the garden and a few undisturbed minutes to myself to enjoy life's simple pleasures. Ahhhhhhh.

But enough daydreaming.

Mother's Day is over and the kids are screaming my name--gotta run!