I actually was not aware that these two observations went together, but consequently both holidays are applicable to my life these days. First, workers rights have been on my mind a lot lately, because Kaylee has gotten really involved with the campaign to unionize the Charleston Sanitation Workers. She has worked tirelessly (chances are if you've been on campus in the past two weeks, you've seen her) to collect signatures on a petition to provide them with a way to protect their health and safety on the job--an increasingly difficult task in a right-to-work state like South Carolina. But she, and a small group of other really devoted people are trying anyway. Sign the petition online and help them out, in honor of International Workers' Day!
As for the May Day that I'm more familiar with, the one that marks the beginning of the spring-y months and the end of the winter half of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, it's an occasion for planting new things and watching them grow! I'm a big fan of the idea of spring as a time for rebirth and new life, and particularly the physical manifestation of this concept in, what else? Planting a new garden!
After my first plants took some pretty bad hits (moving across town, getting lost and/or drowned in the horrible flooding at our new house, a.k.a. the epicenter of Charleston's poor drainage system) I decided I'd give it another go. And May Day seems quite a perfect day to chart my progress.
I love having fresh herbs, and my original herb garden at the Spring St. house did pretty well, until the rats feasted on beloved potted delicacies. Now here's the new herb garden:
There's lemon basil, mint, cilantro, Sicilian oregano, and a big rosemary bush that managed to survive all the tragedies. (Don't mind the underwear hanging to dry in the background; we had to do a little hand-washing of the essentials because not having a washer/dryer is taking a toll on our clean laundry situation.)
We're also trying to grow some veggies this year from seeds, and check out this progress:
Before: these are squash & cucumber seeds and barely-visible okra sprouts.
And after: sprouts going gangbusters after just a few days!
Okra!
Cucumbers!
Even little squash! (Those have been more stubborn.)Welcome to my back porch, May. Spring is such a lovely time of year, and I'm glad it's finally here after all those teases of winter right up until the last minute.
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