best.day.ever.

saturday was pretty much the best day ever. first, it was my mom's birthday. happy birthday, foxy lady! second, it was the vernal equinox. WELCOME SPRING! third, it was the iranian new year-- i know this because the persian woman who cut my hair saturday morning told me so. which brings me to the fourth point of best-day-ness-- i got a haircut, for the first time in a year! and, AND, it was 70 degrees and full sun on saturday. right here in dreary seattle, washington. 

so, scene set. waving goodbye to winter with a fresh new 'do on a sunny warm day when celebrations are taking place from south georgia to tehran. but there's so much more to the day's awesomeness.

saturday was the seattle tilth spring edible plant sale. we were there to pick up a couple of pea starts, maybe some greens, a strawberry plant-- nothing outrageous. not much money plus not much room in the back garden bed determined that. but as i was looking over the kale varieties, someone announced on the bullhorn, "attention tilth plant sale shoppers-- all plants now are HALF PRICE." i swear to you, there was a collective gasp and a cheer. it cracked me up, buncha gardening dorks (which i can say because i count myself among them).

so, naturally we had to pick up another carrying flat for the many more plants that i was about to buy. 

the damage (none of which i've tried or even heard of before):

strawberry-- pineapple crush
spinach-- emilia
salad greens-- mache (corn salad), gourmet lettuce mix, continuity lettuce
peas-- green arrow, blauschokker, golden sweet edible podded, dwarf grey sugar, dwarf snow, sugar sprint
broccoli-- purple peacock, decicco, umpqua, italian green sprouting calabrese
cauliflower-- early snowball, snow crown

many of the above are in multiple trays, thus i have 22 broccoli and cauliflower starts. problem is, my garden bed is sized for some peas and greens-- not for 22 heading brassicas...

on a whim, i suggested we stop by an antiques store i've been curious about (but not before we stopped by the u village gardening event and said hi to the edible seattle publisher, then rob found two pairs of jeans on sale from $130 to $30-- best day ever!). i figured we may find a neat-o pot or something to grow the lettuces in. instead, rob found this old broke-down trunk for the low, low price of 20 bucks, and it's big enough (i believe) to fit 5 or 6 of my broccoli plants! we'd talked about building a new bed, or buying a big container, but there's not a chance we could have done either for $20. plus, it's gonna look stinkin' cool. (i love having old stuff in the garden! if i had $160 to throw away, i'd have also bought the ancient metal bed frame for my peas to climb. one day...)

on the inside of the trunk top was nailed a postcard, a photo of a ship, evidently taken by j.a. mccormick. there's some writing on the back, but all i've been able to make out are "san pedro," "san diego," the name "allen maynard" (i think), and some numbers. it was tacked in with what look to be hand-fashioned nails. we're going to nail it to the wall and hang a frame around it. 

finally, we bought dirt and got last-minute reservations at our favorite sushi joint. 

so, there you have it. the best day ever since the last best day last january when my friend claudine and i drove to kookoolan farms in yamhill to buy cheesemaking supplies, then stopped by a biodynamic winery on a hill with a view of 3 mountain peaks and bought a $40 bottle of pinot noir. one of the next best days ever will be when i find a job and get to drink that $40 pinot!

okay, off to the garden. ttfn!