Back From Florida

When we got back from Florida, the temperature went up to the 50's for 2 days and all of the snow that accumulated for two months melted. It was amazing. It was like we brought Florida back with us, except the green grass was replaced by brown and it was covered with two months of debris. The day we left for Florida, I got a bunch of PALM apps that I wasn't able to process. When I got back, I got another bunch of PALM apps to process. Welcome back.

I processed the first batch and when I checked  I caught a lot of mistakes that I then had to correct. The second batch I processed had 10 applications without a stamped self addressed envelope for the confirmation letters which I then had to supply. It took from Wednesday when I got back to Saturday to process all the applications and mail out the confirmations. Then Sunday we were hit by 10 inches of snow, more what than the "storm of the century" gave us. Later in the week we got another 4 inches or so. All the snow that had melted was back.

Because I was in Florida I missed the February potluck that kicks off the Garden Resource Program. There is nothing better than getting together with a bunch of enthusiatic gardeners in February when there is no hope of spring. The best  I could do was help out in the seed packing. There are 1700 people who get seeds from the Garden Resource Program. The seeds are brought in bulk and then split into individual  seed packets by volunteers. There are seed packing parties all over the city. Our group packed Kentucky Wonder pole beans into 1400 envelopes. It took over 2 hours and we were all sick of beans by the end. Then it was off to Calendula seeds. One of our group was a middle aged woman who had done the Michigander several times. I got to talk up PALM. We weren't any closer to spring but we were surrounded by seeds and bike riding anyway.