January 28

I took an old glass rolling pin, which is hollow inside and sealed with a screw cap top, put charcoal chips down in one end, and filled it roughly with 1/3 full of good soil. To hold it, I crafted a stand out of wood, designed so that it held either end allowing the central tube of glass and soil to stand upright, with the screw top located at the top of the roller, so that I could open it periodically to water within.

Into this terrarium I sprinkled several tiny seeds from the Sweet William Catchfly that grows wild near our knot garden out front. I had collected the seeds last fall, placing them in a small labeled vial and on an old typeset shelf hanging on the wall where 30 to 40 other such vials reside with collected seeds of differing wildflowers.

It is a small accomplishment really, and the chances of the seeds germinating within in the relatively cool temperatures of our January house may be low. We do such things at this time of year precisely to build our hope that life and growth will soon begin anew. These hopes we nurture just as I will do with this terrarium; that with the right amount of light and warmth and luck and timing we may be fortunate to witness another beginning in the cycle of the seasons.