Winter Gardening

I have mentioned before that while it is something of a necessity for me, I do not particularly enjoy wearing Charlie outside.  For one thing, it hurts.  For another, it's frustrating because I can't DO anything when he's strapped to me.  So I end up just walking around looking at everything that needs to be done and . . . not doing it.

Irritating.

But I wore him outside anyway, because Cubby wanted to be outside.  This winter, however, Cubby has been getting strangely reluctant about going outside.  We think it's because he hates putting on all the cold weather gear.  Mittens particularly.  Man, does that kid detest mittens.  Probably because you can't actually do anything with mittens on. If you can't operate a tool, what's the point of going outside?

And since I'm not too jazzed about hauling Charlie around outside anyway and I don't really feel like fighting about getting outside, we've been spending more time inside.

Which just means more misbehavior and boredom from Cubby because he's too cooped up.

Awesome.

So this morning, when Charlie went down for his first nap, I was determined to get Cubby outside one way or another.  Despite the 22-degree temperature, I was prepared to forego all winter apparel except his coat and hat.  He could do without the mittens, snow pants, and insulated boots.  But I still had to come up with something exciting enough to do outside that he would be willing to go out.

Then I remembered the asparagus plants that I never did cut down all the way when they died in the late fall.  And you know what Cubby likes to do?  Cut things.

It's a plan.

When I told him we were going outside to cut down the dead asparagus plants and that he could have a pair of scissors to help, he was all for it. Of course, when we got out there, he just wanted my pruning shears, but he waited patiently until I finished my asparagus pruning before taking them to attack some weeds.

Then I borrowed them back so I could cut down the blackberry canes.  The bark at the bottom has been completely stripped by rabbits this winter, so they're not going to bear anything anyway this summer.  Some of them were all broken off already, so I figured I'd just cut them all down and cover the whole area thickly with sheep shit straw in an attempt to get control of the rampant weeds that plague that area.

One benefit of winter gardening in the blackberry patch is that I'm already wearing gloves, so I'm saved from my own stupidity.

Then I got a load of firewood brought from the pile on the lawn to the stacks by the door before he got cold (thanks to his insufficient clothing) and wanted to go inside.

So.  Blackberries and asparagus pruned, firewood stacked, and child aired.  Success.