January Broccoli

Winter is the gardeners nemesis. The sky is gray and the ground is. . well, gray. By January I can no longer endure the grayness. My soul longs for the sun on my face and the dirt between my fingers. I dream of sipping mojitos on my patio after a long day of laboring in the garden beds; enjoying the cricket serenade. Just when I was certain I could truly endure it no longer, when I had started looking for real estate in Florida, the earth took pity on me. While on a snow boot clad trek to the compost pile on a rather warm January afternoon, I stopped dead in my tracks. My breath escaped from my chest and my heart began beating wildly! Could it be? Yes, it is! Broccoli! One lone broccoli plant stretched her arms up to the sky and danced under the sun. I knelt in the snow to marvel at this gift from the earth and the broccoli plant handed me a perfect, beautiful sweet floret for my mid-winter enjoyment. I dug around her with my mittens hoping to find a few of her friends. Is my sorrel thriving too? What about the kale? The bok-choy? Nope. I looked up at my broccoli and she looked back. "Shhh. They're sleeping. They will wake soon enough. You must be patient." The broccoli is right. I must be patient, though patience is not one of my strong points. I stood and silently paid tribute to the beautiful garden sleeping beneath the snow before returning to my winter cave to hibernate... for at least a few more weeks.