Almost Spring 3/4/2013

     It is 6:43, and I have just come in from feeding the horses.  It's light out.  The air is fairly mild, and smells of Spring, even though there are light fluffy snow flakes drifting down.
     Bright red Cardinals are staking their claims.  Their bright, clear songs fill the morning, as they flit from, bush to bush, and tree to tree.
     The snow is melting, and the driveway, walkways and aisles have turned to a mud, as have the trails.  It's at this time of year that I think we should have named the place Boggy Bottoms instead of hideaway meadows.  This is also the time of year that my thoughts turn to gardening.  The days are lengthening, and the ground is thawing. I am planning on putting in a lot of heirloom varieties this Spring;  Brandywine tomatoes, Amish Paste tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, (can you tell I love tomatoes) assorted lettuces, herbs, radishes, green beans, zucchini squash, summer squash, pickling cucumbers, sweet peas, egg plant, swiss chard, spinach, as well as establishing beds of asparagus, and rhubarb.  I'd also like to put in a strawberry pyramid, and begin a dwarf orchard.
     Once the frost is all the way out of the ground, we're planning on building a hen house, and fenced in yard for somewhere around 16 chickens.  The goat house, fenced yard and the goats will come probably next year.  Little by little we are becoming a homestead.  In time we'll plant low bush blueberries, raspberries, and some assorted grape vines.   Mmmmmmm homemade raspberry jam...the essence of a summer day.
     We are still going strong with the fire wood.  We have had to cut as we needed it all Winter long and we have learned two things;  Number one, that we CAN do it, even in the worst of weather, and number two...we never want to do it this way again...EVER.  We can cut, split and haul all Winter to replace the supply as we use it, but we will have a backlog (no pun intended) to use if we get sick, or injured and can't harvest...or there's six feet of snow in the woods. 
     Well, that's about it for today.  Have a great day everyone.