New Life

Not that anyone but me cares, but most of the tomato seeds planted on Valentines Day are now tiny little tomato plants. I kept them warm and moist and now they are popping up like crazy. I can't tell you how excited I get when those little plants appear. I moved all the peppers and stuff to the with shelves by the sliding glass door in the basement which is a nice Southern exposure and they are all busy sucking in the natural sunlight and everybody seems happy. The new tomatoes will bask under the artificial grow lights for a while longer or at least until they are all up and have true leaves. One tray of peppers has not sprouted yet...the little "bird peppers" sometimes called chili pequin. They were planted like everyone else so maybe they are just slow. Maybe it takes extra time to build up the excruciating heat they have. I haven't given up on them yet. It's getting cool again with nightime temps back into the 20's so the urge to get out and play in the dirt is subsiding a bit. I should be getting my seed potatoes in the next few weeks which is the official kick off of the outside gardening. The brocolli, cabbage, cauliflower, leeks and arugula should be ready to find their homes in the garden by that time as well. Then begins the battle with the deer and rabbits. The deer have enjoyed the cereal rye in the garden cover crop all winter but now it's time for my food to grow and not theirs. Early stuff is beginning to green so they will have enough natural food soon. Not to mention that all the subdivisions are putting out their spring beds of deer food.

My daughter(mini monk) has volunteered to help me get my trailer back in shape. The floor has rotted out again and this time she wants to put in expanded metal. She never misses an opportunity to weld and this floor should last a couple of years. She is also hoping I will quit begging for her to bring me horse manure if I have a trailer good enough to haul my own. There are all kind of horse barns around that will give you manure if you just haul it off. The stuff is black gold for us organic gardeners and I can use tons.

I have been hard at work this week generating all my my marketing material. Short paragraphs highlight my skills and accomplishments using all of the functions soft skill action words I identified last week. The goal is to create a "brand" for yourself that is both accurate and memorable. Something that will set your resume apart from all the rest of the galloots that are applying for the same job. It sounds simple enough but trust me, it is very difficult.

I spent hours working on my elevator speech. How do you wrap up over 30 years of experience and accomplishments into 50 words or less? I have also written the first draft of my script for my 45 second video. I am not one to toot my own horn and when you have only 45 seconds to summarize who you are, what you have done and what your goals are and make it different and memorable it's tough. I think it is pretty good but will definitely need some expert help.

We'll see this afternoon when I sit down with my career coach and he critiques my effort. Fortunately, he will help me refine it and punch it up.