A Tale of Two Nurserywomen

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way—in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.” A Tale of Two Cities

Today, I worked on my herb garden. I had thrown a few potatoes into one little section since the soil was sitting unused and I had some sprouts. They seemed to really enjoy it there, so for now, I’ll let them stay. Since space is at such a premium around here, I can’t afford to be wasteful. I know I’m getting a late start on planting, but it can’t be helped. I have spent the past few months working on my food storage book and barely found time to take my dog for his daily walk. I knew I would be paying the price for my procrastination, but I had no idea it would be as bad as it was.

First off, by the time I visited the local nursery, my favorite nurseryman had sold it and moved north. The first clue that he was gone was the lack of plants. As I drove up, one car was in the lot. A woman on a cell phone was milling about with her phone glued to her ear. She could hardly be bothered with her only customer and when she finally lowered her phone (not hanging up) to ask us what we wanted, I realized I wasn’t going to have a good experience. Second, the scant amount of plants she did have were hideously mistreated. Yellowed leaves on some, and some pepper plants had ALL the leaves plucked off with only a small undeveloped pepper hanging off it. WOW—I couldn’t believe it, they’d removed every single one of the plant’s leaves. How was it supposed to nourish itself? Anyway, I left there, feeling as if this nursery woman, no, not nursery woman—just woman on the phone, had committed a heinous murder of vegetables—HOW DARE SHE!

We had to drive an extra ten miles to get to the second nursery.  As we rounded the corner, I could see the place filled with plants, compost heaps across the yard, and the nursery woman was actually happy to see us. No begging to ask prices. No feeling as though I was a rude interloper when asking about various plants. As I settled on my purchases, I was comfortable knowing that she had actually cared about producing great plants instead of just making a buck. This was evident in the quality of them, the courteous service and her knowledgeable suggestions. Although I didn’t get the exact plants I wanted because of my tardiness, I left meeting a fellow gardener—someone who took pride in their work and was interested in living a holistic and a purposeful life.

“It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known.” A Tale of Two Cities

Take care, All—Hope you enjoyed the excursion into “A Tale of Two Cities,” one of my favorites.
If you’re interested in storing food, be sure to check out my new book. http://www.amazon.com/Nearly-Painless-Guide-Storage–Survival-Series-ebook/dp/B00KBCF5FC/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1402019915&sr=8-2&keywords=hillary+bergeron

The Importance of Maintaining Proper Food Storage

I’m cranky when I diet.  It’s bad enough that I gave up all carbs, sugars, fats, or pretty  much anything with taste–but when I go to the cupboard and find only a few grains of stevia left, it puts me over the edge.  No more sugar-free hot cocoa.  Without it, chocolate would have the acrid taste of just gnawing on an actual cocoa bean or inhaling baking chocolate .  Stevia, combined with chocolate, makes my world go around.  So last night and this morning, I’ve had to forego my usual cup of homemade sugar-free hot cocoa that keeps me sane.

The good new is that later this afternoon, I made it over to Bi-Lo where this time I stocked up on 6 bags of industrial sized stevia so I won’t run out again.  Now normalcy can return to my life and my family doesn’t have to tip-toe around me like mice around a fat sleeping cat.

So today, after being without my hot cocoa fix, I’ve had to deal with lazy book store people who look annoyed that they have to do their job in any fashion, huge crowds of people at Riverbend, horrible traffic, and last but not least, some guy belting out his undying love for the Googoo Dolls in my face after the concert (to my credit, I did refrain from hitting him with my lawn chair-kuddos to me–although I almost suffered a hangover from the fumes on his breath).

Even with all of that, I only lost my cool with the lazy book store employee who kept making up rules as he was going along about how many books they could take and exactly how the books should be presented in the container and how inconvenient it was that I’d brought that many books in–keep in mind, this is how they stay open and they did end up taking most of my books.  Earlier in the day, my niece asked me if I’d ever slapped anyone–“Not that I can recall,” I answered, “but there’ve been quite a few people I would’ve loved to smack around.”  Today, the lazy book store employee and his manager were two of them.  There are so few jobs to go around these days, you’d think that people who have work would at least be polite and maybe a little happy that they have a job.  Instead, we, the public are saddled with empty-eyed employees that hate work.  I have news for them–NO ONE LIKES THEIR JOB, so get over it and help some darned people already why don’t you.  I’m not asking for a smile and cheerful attitude, I’m just asking for some basic respect for the other humans on the same planet who are standing in your endless lines.  So you have to work–why don’t you just cry me a bucket of damned tears about it.  Taking peoples’ books at the used book store has got to be one of the easiest jobs available, just take the books and give them a ticket, why do you have to give them such grief?

All in all, I’d say that the guy was really lucky that I didn’t blow a gasket being that (1) I’m dieting and food deprivation can cause major upheavals in society anyway, (2) I ran out of sugar-free sweetener for my chocolate and (3) I’m feeling menopausal.  I would say he’s darned lucky to be breathing in my book.

Now that I’m sipping on my hot cocoa, I raise a toast, “HERE’S TO A BETTER TOMORROW AND FINDING A NEW BOOK STORE WHERE MY BOOKS ARE ACTUALLY WANTED.”

Take Care, All