Changes at Seeds
I’m thrilled that a few of you are still reading after my nearly four-month hiatus. I didn’t do any gardening or garden blogging from October through December, since those were the last three months of my second pregnancy. I was on a kind of modified activity for the last trimester of this pregnancy due to a history of pre-term labor, which didn’t allow for much besides the basics of taking care of my toddler son–so no gardening. I gave birth to my daughter Madeleine on Thanksgiving Day. I was 37+ weeks along, and she was born healthy and perfect. If you’d like to see photos and read the occasional update on what I’m up to besides trying to spend some time in the garden, check out our family blog, Sunrise Ruby.
I’m looking forward to getting back into gardening and garden blogging as time permits. Which may not be very often given that I’m now a mother of two under two. Most of my time and energy these days goes toward making sure that we’re all decently fed and wearing clean clothes. Nevertheless, I found time last month to plant beets, broccoli, and kale in our raised veggie beds, and most of the seedlings survived last night’s hail. My son is now old enough to appreciate digging in the back yard with me, so that makes it easier to get outside and get my hands in the dirt from time to time, too.
Besides these major changes to life in my family, I’m making a few changes to Seeds itself. First, I’ve removed my list of other Austin garden blogs from the right sidebar. I returned to garden blogging last month only to discover that new blogs about gardening in Austin are popping up faster than dandelions in my neglected lawn, and I just can’t keep up. I don’t want to leave anyone out, and other bloggers, such as Pam of Digging, are doing a better job than I am of keeping a list of bloggers in our community. Thanks, Pam! I hope to get to meet some of the new Austin bloggers sometime soon.
Just for fun, I’ve added a map that tracks the location of visitors to Seeds to the right sidebar. I’m keeping a link to current weather conditions here in the Wooten neighborhood as reported by Victor Engel’s weather station on Weather Underground.
Finally, I imagine that new Seeds posts will be relatively sparse over the coming year, and that the character of these posts will be noticeably different than those of the first year. I imagine that I’ll have more photo-only posts, more posts consisting of short notes that I’m recording primarily for myself, and shorter posts generally. I read and appreciate all of the comments I receive, and I’ll try my best to make timely replies. Bear with me, dear readers! It’s hard to type one-handed, as I’m doing now, while a baby naps in my other arm.
Happy gardening in 2009 to all of you, and thanks for visiting.
Posted in blogging
February 11th, 2009 at 6:12 pm
Congratulations! Take care of yourself. There will be time for gardening later.
Thank you! I will.
-Brianna
February 11th, 2009 at 9:27 pm
Congratulations on Madeleine’s birth! I’m sure big brother is proud. The pics are darling.
Kids grow up fast. You’ll be back to digging in the dirt soon, and you’ll have the pleasure of showing that world to your children.
Thanks, and glad you enjoyed the photos. These babies *are* growing up fast. I can’t wait to share more time outdoors with them.
-Brianna
February 12th, 2009 at 3:14 am
I did find that the littlies changed what I did and how I did it, but gardening is enjoyable even when you don’t have a lot of time to spend on it. Best wishes!
Thank you!
-Brianna
February 12th, 2009 at 1:26 pm
Glad to hear from you again. Congratulations on your beautiful daughter. Don’t worry about the sidebar links–most blog readers track blogs via RSS anyway. That way they know when a blogger they follow has posted even if it’s been 4 months.
Enjoy a wonderful spring.
Thank you! Hope you enjoy spring, too. It’s right around the corner here…our redbud is about to bloom, and the henbit and dandelion are springing up in the lawn…
-Brianna
February 13th, 2009 at 12:36 pm
Woohoo! More posts! More photos!
I have a question that maybe you or your readers can answer:
What’s a good potted plant to keep on an office desk that does not get any natural sunlight??
Try a golden pothos (also called devil’s ivy) in a pot at work. They’re extremely hard to kill. Nathan’s had one at his desk for several years now, and it still looks healthy.
-Brianna
February 13th, 2009 at 8:26 pm
Brianna – what a lovely photo of you with your daughter. I can empathize with you missing gardening, but these moments (good and bad!) are fleeting and you will soon be back out there, little ones in tow. Glad to have you back — good luck with those veggies.
Thanks, Diana.
-Brianna
February 14th, 2009 at 8:52 pm
What a little sweetheart. It won’t be long before you are all out in the garden again. Like ESP they will be learning all about life in the garden.
Yes–I can’t wait to see them both exploring their world outdoors. It’s already amazing to watch my son explore the texture of leaves, sticks, barks, and blades of grass. It’s wonderful to see it all through fresh eyes again.
-Brianna
February 17th, 2009 at 12:31 am
Hi, Brianna, and welcome back!
Congratulations on your new Madeleine (cute pic), please just make sure you place her in full sun and feed her plenty of fish immulsion for the first few formative months (you know how important a good start is)!
I also suggest planting a giant timber bamboo “Alcatraz” immediately, as a fantastic natural alternative to the “naughty-chair”. It takes a few years to mature, but so will she!:
http://east-side-patch.livejournal.com/17088.html
Right there with you,
ESP.
February 18th, 2009 at 10:07 pm
The photos are beautiful, Brianna, and it’s good to know all went well…and amazing that you were able to plant a few vegetables this spring! Welcome lovely Madeleine – hope she and big brother learn to nap at the same time.
Annie at the Transplantable Rose