Sabbath for the Cusp of Spring

Face drawing at age 2!

Today is the start of my sabbath - for a couple of days at the end of my week I step out of the fray, and regroup. We are on the cusp of spring, and I want to take time to prepare myself - body, mind, and spirit.

My perfect sabbath is a celebration, a holiday. I keep it holy with my attitude: I don't rush, complain, or worry. Everything I do has a flavor of peace. I schedule some work, but it's work I find fulfilling, or uplifting. Simple is a great word to describe my ideal activities for the sabbath: Simple tasks, simple foods, and an undemanding schedule.

1.  Read "The Serviceberry"

2. Brainstorm for Spring

3. Practice a Reverent Way of Being

4. Plant greens

1.  Read "The Serviceberry":

Today I'm reading from "The Serviceberry", by Robin Wall Kimmerer (2024). I got this sweet little book for Christmas.

This book is a rambling essay on abundance, reciprocity, and the gift economy. She talks expanding the normal single-person gift economy (I pass a book on to a friend) by setting up a  neighborhood Little Free Library box. And an actual public library expands that to a whole community - not a pure gift economy since we pay for it with taxes, but an analogue. 

"Libraries, parks, trails, and cultural landscapes we regard as public goods; they are what we call 'common resources' -- meant to be shared and cared for by the people who use them. They become possible when we pool our excess dollars in the form of taxes for the common good."

2. Brainstorm for Spring:

The Spring Equinox is coming in five days and I have a few practical and contemplative preparations to make: I want to prepare projects to share with my grandson, plan my next gardening projects, and set some intentions for this new phase of the year.

Today I will take a moment to write down some wild and fun projects, goals, and themes for the next season of my life, and I will make a plan for how to celebrate this week building up to spring:

• Saturday: Plant kale and bok choy
• Sunday: Go to the Earth Summit event
• Monday: St. Patrick's Day - plot onions, peas, beets
• Tuesday: Make a rainbow collage with my grandson
• Wednesday: Dye eggs for Nowruz
• Thursday: Get spring clothes
• Friday: Plant flowers in planter

3. Practice a Reverent Way of Being:

Today I will again adopt a Reverent Way of Being for the days before this turning point of the year - which is to say, I try to be respectful and humble, and use a discipline of speech and thought that I find difficult to maintain for long periods of time.

Specifically, I try to be impeccably honest, and tell no little fibs. Also, I try to not gossip or say (or even think) anything negative about anyone. These are my worst habits, and it's useful to practice being virtuous for a few days at regular intervals throughout the year!

To remind myself, I wear this ribbon bracelet with the words: Reverence, Respect, Honesty.

5. Plant hardy greens:

It's about 6 weeks before our last spring frost, so this is when to start a bunch of hardy greens indoors. These two are both from the Brassicaceae (mustard) family along with cabbage and broccoli.

Kale (Brassica oleracea) is a cool-season leafy vegetable (really just a cabbage that doesn't make a head), native to Asia Minor and the eastern Mediterranean, and the Greeks were growing several varieties by the 4th century BCE. It's best to plant kale in either early spring or late summer, however, late summer plantings produce higher quality, because kale is enhanced with a light frost and can continue to grow even after a light freeze. (My fall planting of kale is very small.)

Bok choy (Brassica rapa), is also a member of the mustard family, and is native to China, specifically the Yangtze River Delta area, where it was likely bred from native wild brassica species growing in the area around 3,500 years ago. It's a cool-weather crop that you can plant in the early spring and again in the fall. (My fall planting had trouble with bugs and with rot, so I'm testing a different variety.)