The question of the day on Easter was what to do with all those bags of jelly beans I bought when they first hit the shelves way back before we were even talking about pandemics and self-isolating and essential workers and non-essential workers.

Then I flipped the jelly bean bags over and realized they have expiration dates that go well beyond next Easter, which will be April 4, 2021. Good. They’ll keep. In fact, the manufacturer even put on the package that freshness is guaranteed.

Which brings me to email newsletters. I keep thinking about when I should send out a newsletter to those people—which might include you— who have subscribed to my newsletter. It’s a growing list, for which I am thankful.

But is now the time to start up the newsletter, to send out that first blast? I don’t know about you, but I’m getting more newsletters than normal these days. It seems like every retail store that ever collected my email address is sending me email newsletters to let me know how much they are doing to keep their place of business clean, their employees healthy, and their doors sort of open, which usually means curbside pick up.

Then there are my favorite seed companies who are sending me emails telling me they are so far behind on shipping the seeds everyone has been ordering that at least for a while they aren’t taking any more orders. I expect they will re-open their websites in a week or so, probably with a lot of sold out signs on some seed varieties. (Side note: Welcome to gardening, new gardeners!)

All this to say I’m glad my email newsletter list doesn’t have an expiration date on it because I’ve decided to wait a bit before sending out that first email. Just like I’m waiting to open up those jelly bean bags. Freshness is guaranteed, after all! For both the jelly beans and the newsletter.

In the meantime, I encourage you to subscribe to the feed on my blog, May Dreams Gardens where I post at least once a week. And check out my YouTube channel, Indygardener, where I’ve been posting videos a couple of times a week. I especially enjoy posting episodes of Gardenpiece Theater.

And I’m also keep busy recording a weekly podcast, The Gardenangelists, with Dee Nash.

That should be enough places to find me for now, at your leisure. But someday, you’ll also find me in your email inbox too, if you signed up for my “occasional” newsletter.