Last summer, I was unemployed and had just moved to a small town I knew nothing about. I started running for something to do. It really became satisfying to go out for a run, though I was (and still am) pretty slow. Then I got a job, and then it started to get colder. I fell out of the habit. I’ve been trying to pick it up again, but cool, wet weather and my own laziness are working against me.

My 2016 total is about 16 miles. I could potentially double that in less than two weeks, running 2 or 3 miles at a time. That’s definitely something I could accomplish when it’s hovering around 40 degrees, but it would be easier to make myself do it if it warmed up a bit, or so I tell myself.

A lot of things seem like that lately. I have lots of ideas for projects I’d like to do, but I’m off to a slow start on all of them. I’m still trying to get to know people at church and in the neighborhood, but that’s never something I’m good at initiating. I’m capable of pushing forward, but now doesn’t seem like the right time.

We’ll see how I do moving forward, but I do have one project that’s coming along fairly well: the herb garden.

About on day 12, I got my first chive sprout. I had more come up on day 13 and 14. The package said to thin them, but I’ve also read they like to be crowded. The tallest one is almost three inches tall, and I’ve got roots poking out the bottom of their egg shell, so I’m thinking I’ll try potting those soon.

You may have noticed an egg shell is missing and one of those turned into a pot. Both rosemary and tarragon missed their sprouting dates. I did some more reading, and it seems like Rosemary’s pretty finicky to sprout and likes bottom heat, something I can’t reliably produce in my apartment. I do have a small flat-topped heater under my desk at work, though, I so I planted some more seeds in little pots and set them on there. The tarragon sprouted pretty quickly — yesterday after about a week in the pot, you can barely see it in the picture — but the rosemary is still living beneath my desk, awaiting germination. I hope I can get it to grow, since I love dried rosemary in cooking and would love to try it fresh.

Everything else is pretty good. Parsley popped up just a few days after the chives did, and I got very good germination. I’ve actually pinched off a few, but you can see I’ve still got four good sprouts there on the bottom right. I only have one thyme sprout, growing slowly but surely. I’ve been watering them from the bottom, which involved sealing little holes in my styrofoam egg carton with tape. The seeds generally did germinate more quickly in the eggshells than the package said they would.

I also came up with a way to make a greenhouse for the rare sunny days:

That’s just a Pyrex bowl. The plants are getting big enough I have to raise it up, but it still seems to work that way.

I’m hoping for tasty, herby additions to our food by the end of the summer. I’ll show my husband that not all leafy green things are bad.