Hoping for new growth

I'm in a really dark place now which is why I haven't blogged much lately. The kids have been back in school now for a week. Our financial situation is worse than ever and my job leads seem to have all dried up. I'm trying really hard not to get sucked down into the abyss.

Yesterday Big J worked from home (to conserve what little gas we have until payday) so we went outside and talked about what we'd like to do with our garden next year. Big dreams. We had a modest garden this year, but it was a moderate success. Besides, it is very spiritually fulfilling to Big J. He particularly likes the berries: blackberries, blueberries, and strawberries. This year we only had handfuls at a time, but it was the first year and we didn't expect much more. Next year the plants will be more established.

I prefer the vegetables. I love home-grown tomatoes. This year we had only 3 plants. Those plants are serving us well and provide us one or two tomatoes every couple of days. That works well for salads and such. But I'd like more. Maybe I could eventually grow enough to can like Mom used to when I was a kid. I also want to try some different items next year.

So we went outside with paper, pencil, and a tape measure. We've decided to increase the size of our garden by almost half. I want to add more salad veggies like lettuce, spinach, green onions, carrots, and bell peppers. I'm going to increase the number of tomato plants to 6. And we have another area where we are going to try to grow pumpkins, spaghetti squash, zucchini, and potatoes.

Maybe I'll be so busy tending to my garden next summer that I won't be able to slip into my usual summer funk. And if our grocery bill goes down a bit, that won't be bad either.

Sometimes it helps to look forward when you're trying to get out of the muck of the present.