It’s nearly spring in Ohio — one of my top three favorite seasons in March. I heard a co-worker say that today was going to be an Ohio spring. I guess that means that while it may be 70 outside, sunny and warm, snow is coming later in the week. Spring ushers in more than sunshine.
After having tapped and boiled down the syrup, it’s time to start other chores. We dig out our run from the hen house and spread it over the raised garden beds and the main garden area. We get new chicks from the store that will add to our expanding flock, about the same time that we start our seeds.
Sitting in the basement is my Germinator 3000. It’s the name I gave my ad hoc 2×4 construction masterpiece I completed after nursing school. Most people wouldn’t think much of it, after all, it’s just a simple stand to start some plants on. But for me, it is a marvel, my marvel.
I started growing plants indoors on a wire shelf. But the shelf was problematic because we used cheap plastic trays and the shelves were not wide enough for the 4 foot grow lamp and too shallow for the standard trays. To make it easier to keep a careful eye on my budding plants, I decided to put the shelving system in the family room. This proved to be even more problematic.
Our cats weren’t vegetarians, but they were deeply curious about the plants and they hunted the fresh cotyledons, day and night. Eventually, we wrapped the shelves in blankets, but to no avail. Eventually, I decided to build a place for germination.
After I finished nursing school and needed something to do until I took my boards, I loaded up some wood in the minivan and got to work. I wanted something that would outlast me, so I combined some old-fashioned post and beam joinery with heavy duty bolts, just in case my attempt to make the joint failed.
I can’t draw my plans out, so I must maneuver a bunch of pieces and mark their place. Ironically, I worked very hard to make something look uniform, even though the finished project isn’t. I also don’t have a lot of tools, which meant I needed to come up with a brilliant idea to make my half lap joints for my legs. Using my circular saw, I carefully cut every quarter of an inch, until I could whack the pieces out will my dull hatchet. Then I carefully sanded the area and repeated the process several more times.
To me it was beautiful, it was a reminder of my construction skills, and I was proud. I called it the Germinator. We didn’t have any more problems with the cats, but that’s because the Germinator wouldn’t fit through the doorway. Out of all the things that I was measuring, it never dawned on me to measure the doorway. After a few modifications, it became a Germinator 1000 and eventually it became known as the Germinator 3000 that we use to this day.
We grow a lot of tomatoes and peppers that you can’t find elsewhere; including beaver dam peppers and Thomas Jefferson’s favorite tomato, costuloto genovese. It’s a robust Italian heirloom, lobed tomato with intense flavors that has won the hearts of my myself and daughter.
I only wish there was a way to bottle up the excitement that I have each spring, when I start the seedlings for when it is time to weed them. Invariably, the excitement wanes and I look forward to the cold winters where I can warm back up next to the fire again.
