seedling eviction + spring dopamine
*Jean-Ralphio from Parks and Rec voice* hardening off seedlings is the woooooooooorst!
“Each time a woman stands up for herself, without knowing it possibly, without claiming it, she stands up for all women.” — Maya Angelou
My mom died 13 years ago, when I was 25 years old. Her birthday was April 20th, and she would have turned 78 this Sunday. Tomorrow, my dad and I are finally scattering her ashes together.
No matter how you slice it, losing a parent is horrible. I have always had the inclination to downplay my loss, telling myself that other people have had it much worse —losing their mom at birth, or at a very young age. Shouldn’t I be grateful to have had 25 years with her? I’m not sure why I’ve always tried to minimize the shittiness of it all, but I guess that’s how my brain tried to process the grief.
And because of that, I have always avoided dwelling on it. In general, I approach life with a forward-thinking mentality, choosing to believe that we aren’t defined by what has happened to us in the past, and rather opting to focus on the present moment and the future. But since getting increasingly into food and gardening as I’ve gotten older, I’ve found myself thinking of my mom more and more frequently.
I always liken her to a Massachusetts Martha Stewart (coincidentally, one of my idols!). She had a wicked Boston accent, taught home economics in the 70s, was a phenomenal seamstress who sewed beautiful clothing and costumes, started a mail order milk paint company, had a stint as a Shaker furniture maker, was the best baker and cook I’ve ever known, had the greenest of green thumbs, was an amateur photographer and painter, a DIY and home renovator extraordinaire, and the queen of arts and crafts.
Now, being a 38 year old woman who is into many of those exact things, not being able to talk to and learn from her downright sucks.
And in a way, I think that’s why I’ve gotten more into both cooking and gardening as I’ve gotten older. It’s all I knew growing up. Every birthday cake was baked from scratch and beautifully decorated. Home cooked holiday feasts hosted at our 1800s farmhouse. Family members would fight over taking leftovers home, and beg for her Christmas toffee. Every Halloween costume and holiday dress made by hand. So many of my memories are of running around my parents’ garden and accompanying 40 acres, hiking in the woods, visiting garden centers on the weekend, doing yard work by her side, and picking fresh berries.
But she did all of this as a staunch feminist who believed a woman could do whatever they damn well please. And she raised me to not take shit from anyone, ever. This one is still a work in progress for me, as I somewhere along the line (nature? nurture?) seemed to have acquired that pesky people pleaser gene. The last 6 months have been helpful in working to eradicate that, though.
I was initially planning on writing about something else entirely this week, but when I saw this headline about Maine’s Gov. Janet Mills, it made me immediately think of my mom:
She, too, was unfazed by loud men, and that’s the exact energy that I’m bringing with me for the remainder of 2025 and onwards. And the energy that I’m raising my daughter with, too.
Whenever I’m puttering around the garden, flipping through one of my many cookbooks, looking for meal inspiration, or dreaming up my latest landscaping scheme, I think of her. And now, whenever I see strong women like Janet Mills or Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez standing up to loud, bombastic men —offering hope to younger generations of women —I think of her, too.
And in her honor, I think I’ll go antiquing on Sunday.
Until next (pizza) Friday,
Amy
P.S.: Things might look a little different around here today, as I got a bee in my bonnet and tried zhuzhing the appearance of the newsletter. A self-diagnosed ADHD non-designer armed with a Canva subscription and a laundry list of other important things to do = recipe for messing around on the computer! It is, like all of us, a work in progress, and may change moving forward. But for better or worse, my life motto (especially after having kids and shifting from Type B+ to Type B-/C) is done is better than perfect.
LOLs of the Week
Reading
Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros
Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler
Careless People by Sarah Wynn-Williams
Listening
Growing
I’m in zone 6a here in Central Massachusetts, which means it’s ~4 weeks before last frost. I use May 20th as our tentative first frost-free date, as historically that’s what our microclimate has dictated. A frost-free date is an estimate of when your area should be safe from freezing temperatures in the spring, but it’s not a guarantee. Think of it as a general guideline based on past weather patterns. Some years, frost might linger a little longer, and other years, it might warm up sooner. If you’re confused about what this means for your location check out this handy dandy tool!
On Monday, I started the weeklong process of hardening off my first round of seedlings —onions, chard, lettuces, kale, collards, etc —and I’m going to plop them in the ground hopefully Sunday/Monday. It’s going to be an unseasonably warm 80º on Saturday, so I’m resisting the siren song of saying “screw it, they’re good enough” and planting them early that I usually succumb to by day 5 of the hardening off schedule I try to follow. Schlepping them upstairs/downstairs every day is tedious but I’ve taken shortcuts on hardening off in the past and any time saved usually costs me double in setbacks—sunburned leaves, transplant shock, and the like. It’s annoying to get them acclimated from grow lights to real sunshine, but they’ll reward you justly for your efforts.
I’ve been using some chives and Egyptian walking onions in some of my cooking and baking this week and man oh man, you forget how fragrant and tasty fresh herbs are after using dried all winter long. I’m firmly in the camp of never buying herbs from the grocery store because A) they’re usually overpriced in my eyes, B) they wilt if you look at them sideways, and C) it makes my environmentalist heart die a little bit inside seeing how much packaging is used for such a teeny tiny amount of product. This post was incredibly spot on regarding that sentiment:
So if you buy herbs, this is not a slight towards you! In the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t matter —and life is short, enjoy some fresh herbs if you want. I’m just too much of a cheapskate to buy them out of season! But April - November? An herb in my garden hates to see me coming. ✂🍃
Making
This year, I’m trying my darndest to make everything within reason from scratch —meaning, the goal isn’t perfection, but stretching myself to rethink my grocery store purchases. I’m talking all baked goods, granola, crackers, sauces, dressings, dips, etc. I’m trying to be strategic about making and freezing extra, planning ahead, and getting the kids involved. This isn’t a tradwife/everything is poison vibe, but more of a “everything at the grocery store is so freaking expensive and I’m sick of it” frugal hippie vibe, ya feel me?
From the past week:
4 loaves of sourdough (I double the Tartine country bread recipe which makes two, so I double it and slice/freeze 3 loaves)
workshopping a cheddar chive sourdough focaccia —my husband and I each had two slices fresh out of the oven, for research purposes of course.
Cottage cheese bread for kiddo sandwiches.
A yummy tomato, onion, and potato egg bake for easy breakfasts.
Egg salad, which feels braggadocios to even say when it’s difficult to find eggs to buy in stores, but our hens are cranking out a dozen a day.
And finally, sugar cookies which my kids requested we use turtle and cat cookie cutters on. I try to have a growth mindset in general, but trying to decorate the cookies was a real struggle. Go figure! Watching cookie decorating TikToks does not, unfortunately, translate into actually being able to flawlessly decorate cookies. The turtles look especially cursed, but the kids loved them and I guess that’s all that matters?
Loving
SPRING! Being able to finally start eating some herbs from the garden has been a true delight, and I have concepts of a plan for my garden. While I refrain from doing any yard-wide spring cleanup for another few weeks, I’ve started gingerly tidying up the vegetable garden to make room for the transplants. Getting my hands in the soil (usually with gloves, because I’m a wimp), drinking coffee in the garden, and listening to the birds chirping is almost enough to make me forget that we’re living through a global relations/financial/constitutional crisis here in America.
Florida Everglades underwater videos like this one. TikTok user @lucamartinez.fl has so many more jawdropping videos like this one, but manatees will always have a special place in my heart. The sea cow! The gentle floaty potato! I would cry hysterically if I ever swam with one.
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Link Roundup
The Seeds That Grow the Most Delicious Vegetables [bon appétit]
The Four Ecologically Crucial Things You Should Do in Your Garden [NYT]
How a Forgotten Bean Could Save Coffee From Extinction [Smithsonian Magazine]
Where bees won't go: The unloved pollinators of the underworld [BBC]
Do You Know Your Salad Greens? A Guide to Lettuces, Chicories, and other Leafy Greens [Serious Eats]
I love sharing gardening knowledge openly, so this newsletter will always be free. If you’d like to support my work (or just help fund my next pizza night!), I set up a little Buy Me a Coffee page. Thanks for being here!
Enjoying Pizza Friday? Share the love and forward this email to a friend you think would dig it so they can get in on the fun, too. Like pebbling, which is what penguins do! They bring little trinkets like pebbles to their loved ones. How precious is that?
I have that same seed company saved for where to purchase hopefully in the near future! I'm so intrigued by it.
I relate strongly to your cookie decorating struggle. I'm an artist, and I enjoy cooking and baking, and I find it hilarious just how BAD I am at decorating cakes. Like, abysmally bad.
I'm in the PNW and in the early stages of hardening off seedlings. This is the first year that I've successfully grown them and so it's all quite new. Beds are out of control from being recently injured and sick, but I'm hoping it will come together.
Your writing is a joy and my own bit of dopamine. Thank you for sharing it.
Loved the link to the Smithsonian article about coffee. Just returned to buying green beans after a few years delaying to fix our roaster... and still need to do that. Knowing more about the current state of coffee production made buying green from fair-trade family-owned shadegrown farms an easy decision, though it solves almost nothing for anyone except my wallet.
Also it's quite lovely to see someone encouraging others to grow, make, and bake. And to start small, read, research, accept failures and try, try, try again. Am subscribing.