It’s another gorgeous, high cloud summer day in Vermont. We have been watering the garden every morning for the past week because of the heat wave. No rain for the past 10 days. Daylilies, Bee Balm are blooming. Peonies are going by. Anenome which signifies “anticipation” still going strong. Craig weeded the entire vegetable garden with the small rototiller. We planted more beans, peas, parsnips, leeks and fennel.

This is the first ripening tomato of our 2012 garden season. The vine is tied to the post with a slash of pink pantyhose. I think it’s festive. Fairly certain that this is a Roma Tomato. Good for sauce.

Corn, potatoes and squash plants in this  end of the garden.

We have finally figured out the secret of making compost. It came from the Paul Parent radio show. You add loads of grass to the tumbler which  heats up and cooks the ingredients into black gold.

I have three jobs. This was my modus operandi many years ago, about eight, and I had promised myself not to do it again. There are many pros to working full-time for one agency.

1. Stable income and benefits including earned time.

2. You belong, really belong to that organization versus feeling like an interloper.

3. You can grow within that organization and even advance.

The cons are as follows:

1. You become a slave to the organization.

2. The 9-5, five day a week schedule becomes drudgery.

3. After awhile, you feel trapped, like you might want to go somewhere else, but you can’t

imagine actually doing it. The stable income, benefits and earned time are your Siren Song.

I have three jobs, work far fewer hours per week in contrast to the one full-time job and earn the same income. I am vulnerable to lay-offs, but who cares since I am not afraid to develop job opportunities.

The vegetable garden is holding steady. We have had two weeks of rain which is not conducive to growth. Nothing has died. Beans and cucumbers sprouted. There are tiny green  leaves that look like carrots, beets and radishes in one of the raised beds. No sign of corn or potatoes. On the other hand, the flower gardens are bursting with exuberant color.