The problem with gardening is harvesting. This is the negative thought crossing my mind as I trudge toward my garden to clear out pea pod vines and pull carrots. I know. I know. I should be thankful for good crops, not whiny. This year’s yield of peas and carrots is bountiful.
It’s just that I’d rather be doing something else, preferably in the cozy house on this chilly and windy October day. But since I planted in the spring, so must I harvest in the fall and adjusting the wool headband covering my ears, I push the wheelbarrow toward the garden. My “gardening” jacket is warm and so are my feet in their Bogs, but already the cold is seeping through my gloves.
Just tough it out, I tell myself and open the gate. Inside the wire enclosure, which has successfully kept out this summer’s deer, I first check out the pea pods. Most of the vines are dying, but I see enough edible peas for a meal, and so I begin my first detour of the afternoon. I simply can’t make myself throw these pods on the compost pile. I spend an unplanned half an hour picking peas.
As the northwest wind bears down on the surrounding birch trees, I remember (very fondly) the spring weather as I planted this garden. Days were long and filled with sunlight. New green leafed out in trees, and birdsong filled the air. I loved every minute I could be outside.
I fill the wheelbarrow with old vines and chug them over to the compost pile. By now, not the slightest amount of feeling remains in my hands, and as I scrunch my frozen fingers together inside my gloves, I have a brilliant idea.
Hand heater pads! Those little chemical packets that heat on contact with oxygen would be perfect. I have some, but where? My golf bag? My duffel bag?
The wheelbarrow and the carrots will have to wait. I march on a quest for hand warmers. And there they are, tucked in the side pocket of my golf bag. I’ve never been happier to see a chemical reaction than when I open the little pack, and it begins radiating heat.
These small HotHands packets stay with me for the rest of the afternoon. I won’t say that the day became spring-like. It remains windy and cold. I won’t say digging up the row of carrots is fun, but the remaining harvest chores are much easier to perform with warm and happy fingers.
Although an unexpectedly large carrot crop takes an extra hour and a half of work to process what with digging, cutting off tops and washing and drying them, I stay comfortable the entire time and heave a big sigh of relief when I finally finish tucking them away.
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