My family and I are coming up on day seven in quarantine, and I have been going a bit crazy. We hadn’t taken the COVID-19 pandemic seriously until the first cases were confirmed in our county. We have locked ourselves away ever since.
In quarantine, we have had to get creative to keep ourselves entertained. Netflix and Hulu binges only lasted us so long, and my TikTok algorithm has become messed up. I can’t count how many times I have beat my brother at Rummikub or how many times he has beat me at Uno.
All over the country, others have had similar experiences. Public stories on Snap Map and social media capture this perfectly.
I have seen people all over turning to Duolingo, finishing paintings and DIY haircuts to cope with quarantine.
Not wanting to risk giving myself a terrible haircut, I choose gardening to cope with quarantine.
Many of my friends refer to me as “plant lady” because of my obsession with plants.
Bringing my plants home with me from Moscow, I have prepped them for spring.
My inchplant plant has a new pot with rocks for drainage, nitrogen rich coffee in its soil and new propagated cuttings.
Succulents have been examined for fungi and any dead leaves have been trimmed. New leaves are in their pots for propagation.
I have a pod of garlic in a glass so it can start growing roots, and my pothos cuttings from the beginning of March have started growing baby roots.
I started second guessing my hobby when browsing Walmart’s gardening center when grocery shopping. It made me question if I may have gone a little overboard.
Miracle-Gro in hand, I’ve realized how important our coping strategies with quarantine are. Planting and reusing kitchen scraps are one of the many ways people around the world are dealing with this pandemic.
I am lucky to be with my family and plants, but this outbreak has been harder on others.
What we can do now is make the most out of quarantine. I know how hard social distancing is, but it is important to our already fragile healthcare system.
Start a new hobby, learn a language or try out the thing that has been on a resolutions list since January. The state of the world is frightening, but we must make the most of what we already have.
Emily Pearce can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @Emily_A_Pearce.