The Relationship between the garden and dishes

Sounds funny I know, but there is a relationship between the garden and the dishes.
Let me explain how to get a dirt manicure.

Many of us have dishwashers, and we use them, many of us don't. The Hedgwife, she does both.

There are days which she enjoys hot water and soap on her hands. Days she loves looking out of the 'sink window' and watching nature at play as she washes the dishes. And there are days where she will put the dishes right in that dishwasher and let the machine do the work. When she is busy with other things, or when she simply does not feel like standing at the sink for half an hour. The Hedgwife accepts the help of mechanics when it suits her needs.

There is one time that I do enjoy doing dishes by hand, that's garden days.

Around here, in the mornings, there are dishes to be done from breakfast. Not every morning, but most mornings. Most mornings I will empty the dishwasher from the night before and begin loading it immediately for the days dish load ahead, but on Garden days, I'll let the dishes set. It's time for a dirt manicure.
I go about my morning chores, leaving the dishes behind, rinsed and stacked. The garden is where I head. I've got planting or pruning or dusting up in the garden and so I begin.

I do wear garden gloves, honest I do, but there is something about the feel of dirt in your hands, that I cannot resist. Try as I might to keep my garden gloves on and my hands clean, the dirt calls and I cannot. I'll plunge my hands in before my garden time is over and when I come out of the Garden Gate, the dirt under my nails is evidence of what I've been doing.

The cool dirt feels good, it's natures womb and I'm planting seeds for her to birth. Sound odd? Well, it is, but that's exactly what you're doing when you plant a seed.

I usually head to the garden early, before the suns heat makes it too hot. Today, I planted lettuce, weeded a few areas and just fluffed up the dirt in a few boxes that are unplanted as of yet. I couldn't resist of course, and took off my garden gloves and dug my hands in several times. It's easier to 'feel' weeds and clods that need to be broken without the gloves. When I was done, I gathered my garden basket and back inside I came. Time for a manicure.

I washed the loose dirt from my hands and loaded the sink with hot soapy water preparing for my dirt manicure. And boy was there dirt under my nails!
I plunged my hands into that hot soapy water and began. I washed each dish by hand, rinsed and set it aside in my drying area and I watched. With each dish and plunge of my hands into the water, the dirt dissapeared a little at a time.
There's nothing like the feel of clean hands and nails is there? Especially after they've been loaded with good dirt!
I watched out the window as I washed, looking at the garden I had just left, watching the womb take on the seeds I had just planted. In a weeks when I do this again, those seeds will have sprouted. A few weeks later, they will have grown to the point that I will be able to see them clearly from the kitchen window over the sink, and my dirt manicures will have even more meaning.
The dishes were all done, clean and shinning sitting in their drying area. As I dried my hands I took one last look out the window, then down to my nails. Clean as a whistle.
What a manicure!