It’s Saturday, which means I’ve been sick for 10 days now. I’ve been to the doctor and it’s just a virus, but what a nasty, persistent one. I’ve been generally miserable. Besides ruining spring break, this cold has also made me miss the NCAA championship game, which my alma mater Villanova won in spectacular fashion, and my son’s field trip to the Insectarium.

I dragged myself to Acme on Tuesday, after a weekend of takeout (and some delicious chicken pot pies delivered by my awesome friend). I was too miserable to care much about using my reusable bags or buying local or organic. I missed the deadline yesterday for the next Winter Harvest order. I did cook a couple nights this week, but nothing too ambitious. Basically I don’t care about anything until I’m able to successfully breathe through my nose again.

I did somehow have the presence of mind to bring my arugula and potato plants inside the other night when there was a frost warning. Arugula can tolerate “light” frost only — above 28 degrees, I think. And I’m thinking that next week I will put my broccoli seedlings outside for a bit, to start the “hardening off” process. Once they are hardened off, they can be planted.

Right now, it’s snowing, and it may freeze again tonight. Really bizarre to see big fluffy flakes swirling past a nearly all-green background of buds, leaves, and grass

Hopefully I’ll be feeling better soon, so that I can really get cracking on the garden. I also need to do a massive spring cleaning blitz and tackle some long-term life planning issues.

It would have been nice, during this illness, to have a good book to read. The kids and I went to the library before we went to Great Wolf Lodge, and I got this out:

I think I overestimated my ability to be engaged by food topics. I read the introduction and then… snooze.

Yeah I just don’t have much to offer right now. Here is an article about organic farmers in Mexico that I thought was interesting. Here is a song I currently love. Here is the CSA I’m thinking about joining this summer. And here is an intriguing new housing development in California that has its own farm. I’ve been thinking a lot lately about housing and zoning and what kind of place I want to live in. Sometimes I think I could stay in this house forever if only our town would approve chickens. The chicken fight has been going on for a while, and while a neighboring town approved a pilot program, my town seems much more resistant to the idea. I think chickens would do it for me; I don’t really want a cow or goat.

Or we could just move here… But then snow in April would be the norm.