A Different Kind of Crazy

A couple of weeks ago when A. and I went to a party at a friend's house, I mentioned to the group at large the INSANE numbers of tomato seedlings that were in my study at that time. Because isn't that what everyone talks about at parties?

I'm an excellent conversationalist, obviously.

ANYWAY.

Happily for me, the teacher in charge of the Future Farmers of America group at the local high school was also in attendance. Upon hearing that what I really wanted to do was trade some of my tomato plants for other plants I needed (cabbage, broccoli, paste tomatoes, peppers, basil, and on and on and on), he told me to call him when I was ready to get rid of my tomatoes and he'd see what he could do.

Our high school has a big greenhouse in which the FFA kids start seeds for a kind of CSA they do with community members for seedlings. So when I e-mailed Andy my frantic, "I HAVE OVER 100 TOMATO PLANTS AND NO PLACE TO PUT THEM-HEEEEELLLLP!" message (except not in quite those words or, um, all caps), he called me back and told me to come right down to the high school greenhouse with my plants. Like, that afternoon. Okay then.

I then spent a somewhat stressful half hour outside with Cubby, figuring out what I was keeping for myself, what I was keeping for friends and family who might want some plants, and what I was giving Andy. And then making sure everything was properly labeled so that other people might actually know what they were growing. All the while trying to keep an eye on Cubby so he wouldn't eat a rock or run into the electric fence or behead all the tulips.

It's all about the multi-tasking.

ANYWAY AGAIN.

I managed to get everything sorted out and the necessary flats of plants loaded into my car (my awesome Subaru that is, that will carry ANYTHING WHEEE!!!) and as soon as Cubby went down for a nap, I left A. in charge at home and took off for the high school to unload my plants. Which I did. But I also got loaded up with MORE plants. Specifically, dozens of green cabbage and broccoli seedlings, plus about half a dozen oregano plants, a whole seed tray of parsley, and the promise of more things to come in a few weeks.

Andy's sense of scale when it comes to gardens is obviously way off. Upon hearing that we grow green cabbage, for instance, he tried to give me about three dozen plants. I had to talk him down. I mean, there's only so much sauerkraut I can make. But I still ended up with almost as many plants as I had arrived with, albeit a bit more variety. I stopped at my friend Alyssa's house on the way home to give her some of the tomato plants I had saved for her, and managed to unload some of the entirely-too-numerous new seedlings I had just picked up. Then I called a cousin when I got home, who said he would be happy to take a bunch of broccoli plants.

But still, when I went out yesterday to get some of these plants in the ground, I ended up planting 14 cabbage plants and 8 broccoli plants. And that doesn't even include the red cabbages that I still have to get.

That's a WHOLE LOT of cole crops. Yikes. So this year might be the year of the Cole Crazy. But that's not in place of the Tomato Crazy, you understand. Only in addition to it.

I think this is just the year of Crazy in general. I may need an intervention.