Home Grown

A quick update. Today is a busy day.

My house smells like beef brisket if any of you are wondering. The sun decided to shine for the afternoon as the entire morning was gray and dismal.

UPS came by and dropped off 3 of these boxes.

Fed Ex dropped in for a quick visit and left this box.

The chickens are back to laying full tilt.

The ducks and geese are showing great spring offerings.

Look at my seeds! I have plants everywhere!

I’ll show you what is in those boxes later this week. I promise.

How was your weekend? What’s this week bringing to the party for you?

If you plant them they will grow.

And it happened so fast!

I went around to all the seed trays I have stashed in every available window that gets sun and was surprised to find seeds already sprouting. Usually it can be about 10 days before you see any seedlings pushing through the soil. For many of my seeds it hasn’t made it to the one week mark yet.

I have brussel sprouts and broccoli.

Corn.

Purple tomatoes.

Assorted squash and peppers.

Cucumbers.

Beans and peas.

Just to name a few.

I am thrilled!!

Now, the long wait until they go in the ground. They will have some good growth and a nice head start in the next 4 weeks.

Don’t forget to leave a comment and send a card through Kelly’s Cakery for a chance to win a new induction oven from Electrolux.

I am self diagnosing these days and have determined I have an ague. A very contagious ague that occurs in Spring. I must warn you to stay very far away from me or you, too, will find yourself taking to your sick garden bed in despair. I fear I may need to go see Granny Clampett for one of her Spring tonics to cure what ails me. I know. Desperation makes us do odd things. It only stands to get worse this week as the weather forecast is predicting days in the high 60’s for us here in Central Virginia. Sunshine. Warm sunshine. Air temps int he 60’s. I am giddy with the possibilities.

One of my symptoms is a very strong desire to put my hands in warm soil and inhale deeply of sunshine, fresh air and compost. I have started about 600 seed cups so far. I have my potatoes and onions on stand by in brown paper bags. I keep checking the garden spot to see if the water is drying up where all the snow has been melting off. I am watching the trees and shrubs with a careful eye for any signs of budding.

Another symptom is a uncharacteristic need to clean out and organize things. I cleaned out the mudroom Saturday with Colby’s help. I also started organizing the food pantry.

I am also looking at old farmers charts for planting guides. Things like “How many 100 foot rows of beets/corn/butterbeans/peas are required to feed a family of 6 for one year?”. I know. It is insanity. Something else that is exhibiting itself is elaborate plans for shelving in the cellar and the urge to collect canning jars at every turn. I also ordered the king of food dehydrators.

I can’t help myself.

I have the Fever and it’s name is Spring. I am not sure I want to be cured of it just yet. I am waffling*.

I am so praying we are done with ice and snow. A couple years ago it snowed on Easter morning and killed all the blossoms on the fruit trees. I don’t want that to happen again. I don’t want to hurry Spring too quickly but I sure and ready for it. It has been one long hard winter this year. What do I call long and hard? We burned 5 cords of wood in the month of December. It was the coldest December on record in over 60 years. That’s how long and hard our winter has been. Not to mention 3 feet of snow every time we turned around. My back porch is still covered in about 4 inches of ice of snow that is just barely beginning to melt.

One other thing feeding the fever is the kidding and the lambing.

Dorcas lambed last week. A lovely little ewe lamb.

How much cuteness can you stand?

Want a good morning kiss? Ivy is good for a smooch or two. Even if you haven’t brushed your teeth yet.

*Speaking of waffles, Steve collected the first duck eggs of the season yesterday. I have been up since 4:30 this morning and whipped up a big batch of Belgian style waffles for the kid’s breakfast. I feel industrious to say the least. My post-op doctor’s appointment is tomorrow. I hope he gives me the go ahead to return to life as normal.

Don’t forget to leave a comment and send a card through Kelly’s Cakery for a chance to win a new induction oven from Electrolux.