I accept most of the responsibility for the typographical errors in this column. My editors are willing to pick up my hand written ramblings at my house weekly. My cursive writing could be neater. I told Violet and her friend (both third graders) that my third grade teacher (Miss Field) used to smack our little fingers with a ruler if we did not hold our pencils properly. The little girls were naturally horrified. It’s wonderful that times have changed.

Where was I? Oh yes, errors in the column. In last week’s I talked about planting baby kale seedlings out into the open ground. Because we have hungry bunnies running around we used the product called Reemay to cover them. Reemay also gives a five degree hedge against bitter cold. It lets in both light and rain. It can be reused for several years. I just weigh down the edges with bricks. Last week the word came out rosemary. It got me thinking about actually using dead herbs for protection from four legged critters. We know deer and rabbits are not fond of sage, lavender, nepeta and the like. I wonder if the branches could be cosied up to one of their favorites. I have planted daylilies right in nepeta before and had them survive an onslaught.

I grew lavender, sage and thyme from seed. We’re talking hundreds of plants here. I need to divide them as they are a veritable carpet right now. Since I am loathe to waste a single life, my customers should be forewarned they will be enjoying plenty of herbs this season.

Back to the errors in last week’s column. I mentioned the arrival of my spring chickens. One of the breeds is a Dutch heirloom called Lakenvelder. Translated this means “shadow on a sheet” because of its black markings on white. Last week it was printed “showdown on a sheet.” I could go a few directions in my comments about that but will spare you.

Marie’s brother, Dennis Kohane, and Danny Larsen spent last Saturday building Marie and me chicken coops to house our meat birds. Thanks guys. I love it. It’s pretty easy to make me happy.

Crocuses are up and blooming everywhere. I’ve noticed the yellow ones seem to open a few days ahead of the purples and whites. There are some daffodil buds in a few protected locations. Once spring starts there is no stopping it. Hurray!

The vegetable garden is coming together. I am continuing the transplanting of onion seedlings. The ones I did last week are standing straight up and have established themselves. Mind you, they are not much thicker than pencil lead. I started them on a propagating mat in January. One can never have enough onions. Another plus, they will be harvested in July leaving room for fall plantings.

I have been eating lots of lettuce. These are heads that wintered over in the hoophouse. The new planting should be pickable next week.

Once again I’d like you to notice the heather at David Finklestein’s office. It’s lovely.

In the middle of writing this, I cut my right index finger. I probably needed stitches but am too stubborn to go to the hospital. At any rate, I was able to get really grateful considering how insignificant an event this was compared to the disaster in Japan. It is simply incomprehensible. Because of our advanced technology we see these news stories at once.

Now, with the threat of nuclear meltdown we are in a whole new ballgame. I have never been able to figure out why we choose such a dangerous energy source. I am, of course, an aging hippie.

In 1978 we had a big No-Nukes concert at the Allen Farm in Chilmark. My friend Sharlee and I worked the Island Children’s School booth selling brownies as a fundraiser. We were incredibly busy selling, taking money hand-over-fist. Eventually, we filled the change box and were actually standing in dollar bills. Don’t even ask how I could go from potential nuclear disaster to a bleep from the memory bank. I guess I am choosing to be in denial just a bit longer. I could run an end-of-the-world scenario in a second.