Plants are my kind of pets :)

To my dear friends who are also looking for jobs, hang in there, better days are coming. The job search process is gradual and tedious, and the stress and anxiety comes and goes in waves. About once a week, I lay awake in bed half the night, only to doze into nightmares... apparently, nightmares are contagious. Ming woke up one day and said he dreamt of me frantically screaming at him, "I need money!" No financial woes intended, I just think it's funny.
I can't afford to feel crappy, there's food to be cooked, house to be cleaned, bills to pay, things to put away. If I feel crappy, not just the house, I'll be a mess! I will break-out, get muscle spasms, and loose sleep. We all have to stay positive somehow, stay busy, stay confident, and stay focused. How? whatever floats your boat. Before I knew, I keep going to my garden.

First thing in the morning, check the nursery 

Just this weekend, I was reminded that people have definitions to what pets are. At a urban chicken keeping workshop this past Saturday, I asked the awesome instructor, "Can we eat the chickens?" And he seemed a bit dismayed, "You have to decide if you want to keep them as pets, or livestock." Why can't I eat my pets, why is it okay to eat livestock? This is my logic: One day when I die and leave this world, I would wish to leave a nice inheritance for people I care for; and I think my chickens would wish to do the same, won't they? Most Americans might frown upon my fuzzy line between pet and food, so I chose a pet that is socially acceptable to eat :)
I started my garden because I want to grow my own food, and also I want to train myself for a career in urban farming in the future. But I did not expect growing plants would be such an intimate experience. Every morning I can't wait to get out of bed and go into the garden. I check how the seeds are sprouting, how small leaves turned into big leaves overnight, how vines are latching on the fence etc. It's amazing to see how vulnerable and strong seedlings are, when a seed decided to sprout, it is so tiny you have to squint and look real close to be sure if something is growing. But all they need is a bit of water, sun, and dirt, and they will grow, their roots will grab onto the soil, keep it moist, and they would branch out from there.

Planted a veggie garden last week, to realize rodents have access to it 

As soon as the seedlings were big enough I decided to transplant them into the raised beds. But I didn't expect company. Last week, after I planted half of my seedlings into a raised bed, all my lettuce leafs were eaten overnight :( Apparently, some mysterious creature like to pay us a visit at night. I was pretty upset, through friend's advices and help from Ming, we put chicken wire up to fence of the hungry predators.

The chicken wire fence is a temporary solution, once we know better what we're up against, we'll take more drastic actions 

The amazing part about the lettuce was, two days later, new baby leafs started growing out from the stem. It's like them telling me, they're okay, and they're staying with me. When I went out to check on the plants this afternoon, I touched the thriving tomato plant, and it left its fresh, spicy scent on my hand. I know plants don't make sounds, plants don't do tricks, but if you listen, they talk to you, send you energy, and they send you love. Can't wait for my first harvest :)

Speaking of pets, how can I not mention my lovely worms?! 

The worms have been settling for a couple of weeks, and they're doing great! Chomping away our kitchen scraps, and multiplying in numbers. Fyi, I learned something recently that might make my former housemates want to kill me... I am supposed to put 50% newspaper and 50%food scraps every time I feed the worm bin. That's why the worm bin constantly had an odor problem... Sorry girls.