It broke. The crystal ball, that is. I purchased a new one, but it…
Nah, that’s all fake news. It didn’t happen. I don’t have a crystal ball. If I did, I would have purchased the basic model, with no extended warranty. You know, the kind that is offered to you via text message. “This is your final notice. You must buy an extended warranty for your car.” Even if you don’t have a car, you still get those “final notices.” I just block and delete. How can I buy an extended warranty for my nonexistent car?
But anyway, the prompt for today is to talk about the future for me and for my website.
Ummm… how far in the future?
For this anise hyssop, the future is happening now. In January of 2025, I participated in a winter sowing workshop organized by the Grand Island Nature Alliance, which is fondly known as GINA. I put seeds in a partially cut open clear milk jug. The milk jug was then taped shut with the ever-magical duct tape and left outside all winter and into the spring. The cap was left off so there would be an opening. The seeds were nourished by snow and by rain. And then, it germinated. That was a moment of great happiness for me. It took about four months before I saw itty bitty baby plants. They grew all spring and summer. It was wonderful. Then, this spring, they came back in abundance. So wonderful. I celebrated the fact that a perennial did what perennials do. I celebrated even more because I nurtured this plant and it came back for me.
Writing about this group of plants is a project that will last all summer. Hence, this is a short-term sort of looking into the future. During this year’s Arbor Day celebration, held in late April by GINA, I made a seed bomb. There were a lot of activities, and this messy seed bomb activities was one of them. I got my hands completely muddy and I got the sink at the Welcome Center muddy, too, when I washed my hands. Yes, the sink needed some cleaning, for sure. I did that. We were both clean. It was okay. I was told that the seed bomb needed to be placed in a pot full of soil, and the seed bomb should only be lightly covered. I was also told that the seed bomb needed to be outside to take advantage of cold stratification.
You see? Not only am I growing plants, I’m also learning vocabulary. Here’s a definition of cold stratification. It comes from Wikipedia: “In horticulture, stratification is a process of treating seeds to simulate natural conditions that the seeds must experience before germination can occur.”
A few seeds germinated, which was totally exciting. Then, even more exciting is that I have a flower. The lovely orange flowering plant could be some sort of marigold, but I’m not really sure. The shape of the leaves would indicate marigold. Isn’t it cute? There’s also a very young purple coneflower in this pot, and who knows what else? I plan on posting updates occasionally through the month on what these plants are doing and how they’re growing.
At the Kid Biz event, held two weeks ago in Town Commons (a town park located next to the Grand Island Town Hall), I planted a sunflower seed. A sweet young lady, who had just finished fifth grade, directed me in how to plant my seeds. She did a great job. Her directions were very clear and complete. Under her guidance, I planted two seeds. About a week later, I noticed that one of the seeds had germinated. Isn’t it adorable? I love my baby sunflower. The pot is biodegradable. After the plant gets a little bigger, I’m going to plant it, pot and all, in a larger pot and put it outside. Right now, it’s in a windowsill.
So, yes, you’re going to see updates about the growth of the sunflower. Isn’t it exciting? It’s my plant baby. The others are, too. All of them were grown from seeds.
And now, we’re back to… how far in the future?
So, I’ve shared some short-term goals for this website, which mostly have to do with plants. Here are some more long-term hopes or goals for the future of the website. I am hoping to have a little gallery of my art, which would be separate from my blog. You could just go there and look around. Eventually, I would like to have an option for people to buy notecards, made by me, online, through the website. That’s a little more long-term because of security issues that could come up when money is involved. And maybe, I could have other things for sale. Hence, the long-term goal is to create a little boutique at this website with Alice art. I will definitely share announcements when they happen.
I guess that’s it for today. Tomorrow, I’m going to the Independence Day Parade, where I will be taking pictures for the newspaper. I’ll share a few here, too! Bye for now!
