Donating Blood in Memory of Nora this Mother's Day

Oh how I love these people! Here's to getting reacquainted with them in the coming weeks. I think my 10-14 hour days in front of a screen are behind me, for the time being. Relief floods through me at the though of that. I have a few big projects to get through yet, but I'm hoping by our 21st wedding anniversary this Friday I will have a handle on those as well. Yesterday was the first Saturday in awhile that I just worked a few hours and then in the afternoon we all went outside to work together. I was almost giddy as we weeded red raspberries and asparagus, put a biochar/compost mixture on both asparagus beds and mulched the paths around them with a thick layer of leaves. At one point I commented out loud that I wasn't sure when I had last felt so happy and alive! I also got to take loads of weeds to the piglets and Red Rosie (Jason has named our red pig!), who we are happy to report has missed a cycle and so is very probably pregnant. Yay for piglets in August!!

So it's Mother's Day. And I'll get to spend it with this trio of gals. Right now I'm trying to encourage the two older ones to get out to care for their chickens/ducks so we can have brunch together. Since it is now 10:25 a.m., it appears that brunch will be turning into lunch. My children definitely did not get the gene associated with "morning bursts!" But Jason and I enjoyed a bit of one this morning - we slipped outside early to do chores together (knowing that neither of us should be carrying full 5 gallon buckets following giving blood). Then, with kids still slumbering, we headed to the Red Cross Donation Center in Harrisonburg. It felt odd, as it was the first time we've been in the car together for months.

Due to COVID-19 we cancelled our June 4 blood drive. The idea of holding a drive where kids couldn't come, hugs couldn't be shared, homemade snacks couldn't be served and we'd all need to wear masks and keep physical distance didn't sound like the meaningful ritual we aim for. It felt better to just encourage friends and family to individually give in memory of Nora over this time. And, for me, Mother's Day felt like the perfect day to give in her memory. I felt more nervous today on our drive to the center as I was turned away on my last attempt due to low hemoglobin. I wasn't sure what to expect but hate being turned away when I've geared myself up for it. When the first finger stick yielded a read of 9.9 (I think the minimum is 12.5 for women), I more or less lost hope of a successful donation. But they always call another person in for a second stick on the other hand. And it was 13.2. Yay! I know it is silly to feel euphoric about being allowed to donate blood, but I'll admit to feeling pretty happy. And the icing on the cake is that my actual donation time was 4 minutes - the person that stuck we actually had to try to slow the flow down as I was giving almost too quickly. That has never happened for me before! Normally I use about every allowed minute. I guess I was very ready to give! I'm really glad that today will provide points of connection with all four of our daughters!

In other news, we had a hard freeze last night. While we will likely have small losses especially in fruit this year due to it, we are thinking more of friends who likely have lost their entire grape harvest for this year and wondering the future of the blueberry patch next door. We also wonder how many eager gardeners are finding dead tomato plants this morning. It feels like March in May as I sit by the fire in our woodstove.

It was odd to see such a heavy frost when there is so much lush green all around. Everything looked a little shocked this morning but most things will bounce back pretty quickly. The saddest looking crop right now is the potatoes, which Jason just finished doing the first hilling on this week. It was the most impressive before/after kind of project and looked amazing at the end of it. Now it looks like hills of soil with dead plants sticking out. But potatoes should recover. Not as hopeful about kiwis, grapes, apples, blueberries, etc... We will need to savor the fruit we have on canning shelves and in the freezer. Terah is eyeing the first strawberry blushing. It looks like we have four more days of bringing in all our plants every night. As of May 14, it appears that we aren't expected to dip below 55 degrees at night. Then the summer crop planting will commence in earnest.

We are still sharing our home with 19 chickens. We've never had them in the house so long but we are trying to stretch the inside time long enough that we don't have to use supplemental heat outside (running lots of extension cords). So they should be pretty good and tame - which is great since they are going to families that might enjoy chickens that are comfortable around people. They fly up onto the box and even perch on the edge and look around the room. What is amazing is they normally look around and choose to go back to "their home." I am not enjoying the dust or smell, but they are likely only with us inside for another week or so and I'm finding enough about the experience to be fun for it to feel worth the mess!

And, finally, as Jason's and my wedding anniversary approaches, it brings back plenty of memories of this time last year. It is very clear that the only direction I can go this year (compared to last year's shindig) is down - in terms of surprise and celebration. So it will be a low key year, but we are looking forward to enjoying Gray Jay food again for our anniversary as Friday happens to be our anniversary, the day I pick up pig scraps there, AND their pizza day. And, who knows, in honor of our anniversary, it seems likely that one of our girls will don my wedding dress since Alida and Terah have been on a little "play wedding" kick recently.

Ok, time to cook some barley grits, fry some sausage, steam some spinach and make eggs. Also, better stoke the fire so the water for our decaf coffee comes to a boil.