When He Is Risen Is Time To Plant

Mother Nature is cruel. Just when we think we are going to poke our eyes out if we have another freezing cold day she brings us spring. Ok, so that part does not sound so mean, that is until you go outside to enjoy the newly warmed earth and are confronted with the drapery of spring pollen.

Hello, spring in North Carolina is here and we know it from the thick coating of fine yellow dust everywhere. Right now it is coming mostly from Trees and Pine (which I thought were trees) according to the weather channel’s pollen cast.

The clouds of pollen rolling down the golf course across the street from my house look more like giant tumbleweeds than the minute irritants that have banded together to make us all suffer.

Walking outside, even if just for the three minutes my dog needs to pee I feel as if I have been in a dust shower. My eyes itch and the back of my throat gets dry and it feels as if my esophagus’ sides have been pinched together and stuck like a half blown up wet balloon. What I wish for is one of those air curtains like serious scientific labs have where they blow everything off you in a cleansing way before you enter a room.

Normally in this neck of the woods we have had more than a few really nice 80 degree days sprinkled in January and February before the pollen starts, but not this year. So the insult is that we have hardly had a good time outdoors before being driven back in to escape the allergens and the impending heat.

I need to work in my garden, but am yet to pull one weed or turn one shovel full of dirt. A farmer recently told me that I should never plant my summer vegetables until after Easter. Considering that Easter has about a six week spread in its potential date I wondered what Jesus had to do with my ability to grow green beans. I could answer that question myself in that it is a total miracle that I can put a seed in the ground and wait two months and then eat what comes up, but that is a greater theological question than I am prepared to deal with today.

I decided to ask my Uncle Wilson, a retired Minister what Easter had to do with planting my garden and he explained how the Easter date is determined. Easter is the first Sunday after a full moon after the spring equinox. Uncle Wilson said that the planting time is tied to the Moon and not to Jesus. That makes a lot more sense to me.

Now the problem is that I am going to have to plant in the high pollen season. Yuck and double yuck. So right now I am praying for a wet end to this week to knock the pollen down, bring on a yellow dust free Easter and warmed soil fit for planting. If you went ahead and planted already because the warm weather enticed you should think about covering up your tender plants Wednesday night. It may go back down to freezing. Easter hasn’t happened yet and I always trust a farmer.