Distracted By Onions

I've been distracted by onions. The green ones. The ones I buy at the store in bundles of eight or twelve, then slice and put in salad or tuna or scrambled eggs or soup or...well, you know--anything on the salt side of the culinary aisle.

Sometimes the store trims off the roots of their green onions.

I don't buy those.I buy the kind with a good stub of white left at the base, because I have a little planter box on my deck where I replant the onion ends. They grow back quite easily--all you have to do is remember to water them. It's not that replanting green onions saves you bunches of money, but it's nice to have fresh onion sprigs anytime you're in the mood for say, salad or tuna or scrambled eggs or soup.

Lately it's been blustery and, okay, I admit it--I'm a wind wimp. I also don't like it cold. Rain's okay. So's fog. Sunshine is wonderful. But wind? It makes me nervous. We're on the side of a canyon so it comes whipping through, upending all the deck furniture, flinging cushions overboard, and if we haven't taken down the umbrellas?

Even Mary Poppins couldn't handle it.

So wind is wicked, and if it's a cold wind? Brrr. I'm plugging my ears and hiding in the back corner of the house where I can't hear furniture scraping and cushions flinging and green onions flapping around for help.

Because of the weather, I started putting my last bunch of green onion stumps in a little two-inch espresso cup. I don't make espresso, but the tiny cups get used for all sorts of odd things. Like holding onion stubs until the wind and cold let up so I can go out to the planter box and plug them in the dirt.

I've done this lots of times before--I just put a little water in the bottom to keep the roots from shriveling up, and they've always held on just fine. This time, however, I wound up adding all the stumps to the cup. It's been that windy. And each time I'd add new stumps, I'd rinse the roots of all of them and add clean water. And although I've had the stumps start to shoot up in the past, I've always transferred them to the soil soon after they started sprouting. I've never grown a whole bunch before, but having so many in the tiny cup seemed to actually work better than just having a few. The stumps were held upright, supported by each other. It's worked so well, in fact, that I've been harvesting from these guys for weeks now! I rinse the roots and give fresh water every other day (or so), then pop the bunch back in the cup, put it on my windowsill and delight in how they continue to spring forth.

While I was doing the dishes last night it occurred to me that those green onions on my sill are pretty representative of life. We don't need as much as we think we need. With some decent roots, a little support, some water, and some sunshine,watch us grow and produce. Even when we're cut down, with a little time and nurturing we'll spring right back.

So, yes,  I've been distracted by onions.

Onions that make me want to thank you for the water and sunshine you bring to my life.