Soil Chart

Soil Chart
Stacey Greenberg


First off, I want to thank all of the wonderful mamas (Shiloh, Uele, Kristy, Jenny, and Andria) who helped me staple, fold, and address the last issue of Fertile Ground. We had an assembly line going at Mothersville and all of our babies were hanging out on the floor watching us work—it was awesome. I surely never would have gotten them mailed out in a timely manner on my own. So, THANKS Y’ALL! Second, I wanna thank Kinkos for getting the cover image completely off center thus detracting from my beautiful mulberry paper. Third, I need to apologize to the lovely Adrienne Moore for completely screwing up her “Travels with Maggie” essay. (I wish I could pin that one on Kinko’s but alas, it was me.) I inadvertently left out a page and repeated another. If you would like to read the essay in full, please visit my fancy new website. (If these last two things seem random, then you probably got one of the 50 corrected copies done on plain ol’ red paper.) Fourth, I would like to apologize to my husband and son for incorrectly telling the world that Jiro is pronounced Jeer-o when indeed it is more like Gee-row. And finally, I know you were all dying to purchase some Fertile Ground merchandise, but were stymied by the link. Well as I said, I now have my very own website! Again it is only because I have the best friends ever. THANKS A MILLION TO ERICA CARTER for setting up and designing www.fertilegroundzine.com. It’s incredible. You can see all the issues of Fertile Ground, read some sample essays, order subscriptions, and buy merchandise! So when you think of getting someone a gift, think Fertile Ground.

So how did I spend my summer vacation, I mean my maternity leave? Well my husband’s eight week dig turned into a twelve week dig and I somehow managed to survive! So did the kids! Again, I had to rely heavily on my friends. If it weren’t for Marlinee, Kristy, Julie, my mom, and my sister inviting us over for dinner on multiple occasions we surely would have starved. So, THANKS Y’ALL! In retrospect I am actually glad that Warren was gone for so long. It really helped me get it together as far as learning how to deal with everything on my own. I feel like a stronger mama now. But I am REALLY glad that he is back. Getting two kids fed, bathed, and into bed every night was HARD. (However, I have already idealized the whole experience as you will see in my drawing…)

Having Warren gone when it was time for me to go back to work sucked. Somehow I managed to wake everyone up at 7:00am, change diapers, get the kids dressed, take a shower, get myself dressed, feed them, get Satchel to school, get Jiro to daycare, and myself to work by 8:00am. (Ok 8:15am.) I moved pretty damn fast for someone weighed down by a breastpump, purse, Satchel’s school bag, Jiro’s school bag, and a 10lb carseat with a 20lb baby in it. (You won’t be surprised to learn that my previously reconstructed knee started acting up for the first time in 13 years.) So yeah, I’m back at work and Jiro is in daycare. I reserved a space at Katy’s (The Daycare Goddess who looked after Satchel—read about her in Fertile Ground #1) and it made my transition to back working mama incredibly smooth. Katy is fantastic. Jiro lights up every morning when I drop him off and I haven’t spent a single second worrying about him. THANK YOU KATY.

I have a little toot-tooting to do. My essay on circumcision was featured on Mothering.com in August and I had two articles published in the local paper. I also had a brief appearance in the backtalk section of Brain, Child which was especially exciting. Someday I hope to get a real live essay in there. Right now I’m trying to get a gig writing a parenting column—wish me luck!
Ok down to business. Thanks again to my wonderful friends, I have a great issue of Fertile Ground ready for ya. (Hopefully error free.) You’ll see some new faces—Shiloh and Uele from my summer playgroups & Jaala, Victoria, and Kathy from my online world—as well as some familiar ones. I hope you enjoy this issue. And as always, TELL YOUR FRIENDS ABOUT FERTILE GROUND! And one last thing…