A barrel of monkey wrenches

Funny thing about monkey wrenches - you never know what they're going to do or when life is going to throw one your way.  After spending so much time organizing, planning, cleaning, researching, clearing, planting and eating - it seems we may be relocating this summer to another state.  Sooooo what does that mean for my garden and all my prep work?  Do I leave it for the next owner to cultivate or not - do I continue to spend time and money nurturing and growing food for someone else to harvest?  The past few weeks have taken me away from my computer and this blog to  rather clean, prep, repair, paint and stage my house.  As any homeowner can tell you, one little thing leads to the next - a never-ending supply of fix-its to be done.  As my garden grows and the weeds get higher than the vegetable plants, my efforts to clean up our plates has gone back to the grocery store variety organics.  My CSA is not open yet (but soon!) and farmers markets and farm stands definitely have more to offer these days than just a short month ago.  So what's a girl to do?  I've spent so much time setting myself up for home grown harvest throughout the year it would be a shame to waste my efforts and not continue whether the new owners are gardeners or not.  I figure I'm going to count my successes thus far and plan to start again in our new space when that happens - sort of cross that bridge when I get to it instead of trying to cross an imaginary one now.  I've pared down my grocery bill by buying fresh every few days and planning ahead for the number of eaters I can expect at the table.  Sometimes that changes so I swap one night's plan for another which seems to be working pretty well.  Fewer left overs unless I want them, fewer things going in the trash and the compost bin.  Having to keep the house tip top for showings sucks a lot of my time otherwise used for tending the garden and the fridge but I found just as I had with the garden that an ounce of planning was worth a pound of catching up - once the major work is done the maintenance is much easier.  Attacking those weeds now that the house doesn't need as much of my attention is going to be a big task - some of those suckers scare me! - but I figure it'll be worth it as much of my produce will start to bear soon. 

We're already getting bowfuls of juicy strawberries we've managed to keep from the birds and old man Aldo continues to be a source of inspiration with all the tempting things thriving just over the fence.  My flower beds are in full bloom - heady with the scent of my earlier labors - hopefully I'll see those tomatoes before I hit the road for Jersey!