Today I was told that I am obsessive about gardening. Honestly, that is what I was told.
Ok, to be honest, the conversation started with me commenting about a friend who had a husband with OCD tendencies that became obvious when they worked on a project together. My husbands reply, "I know how she feels."
Hmm, that did not see to be correct so I went with a joke, "Why, you are not OCD?" It fell flat.
I followed with something along the lines of, "Wow, I am not OCD. Neurotic maybe. A control freak definitely. OCD, not so much."
The reply was staggering," Fear of dirt, contamination by germs, hoarding, obsession with garden and plants. You want more?"
To be fair, he is correct on 3/4 of the list. I am paranoid about germs thanks to my job as a food safety inspector and foodborne illness. Did I mention my asthma leaves me vulnerable to many other illnesses? OK,germ paranoia- valid. Not afraid of dirt as much as annoyed by it. Partly valid.
Hoarding, not really. I prefer to think I keep a full pantry I always have one of everything and a back up. If there is a bargain we stock up. I say "we" because right now we have 8 boxes of cereal on hand that I don't buy or eat. Regardless of who buys it, we save a lot of money, and normally if it is not on sale or we have a coupon for it then we do not buy the item. Also, we rarely have to run to the store for one item to complete a recipe.
Did I mention we cook? A lot. Almost every night. He is a chef and I started in kitchens 20+ years ago. We have ingredients for sushi, Indian curry and Moroccan chicken with salted limes on any given day. Lots of home canned stuff too. And we use them - a lot. So not hoarding - a well stocked pantry. And that is all I hoard. I used to hoard books, then he bought me a Kindle. Hmm, didn't catch that before.
My garden gets larger every year and we keep adding trees and plants. This year he added a pomegranate and a kiwi. Note, I said "he". Yep, he feeds the addiction. I grow vegetables, flowers, herbs and fruit trees. We eat it, we share it, I freeze it and can it. Sometimes I might even dry stuff too.
Today he came home with a bag of squishy seeds and said, "Do you want some butternut squash seeds?" If that is an apology. I will take it. Besides no apology really necessary. He knows me so well and if it is true, it is true. There are plants on the patio,seeds starting there too. Flower heads drying in the back room and packet after packet of heirloom seeds in the cabinet. Gardening books on the nightstand and pumpkins curing on the porch. My name is Jo and I am an OCD gardener.
My life is beautiful.
