Mid March

In farm news... I planted more peppers back on 3-10: Big Jims and Anchos.

The earliest irises are blooming.

With some later ones getting ready to bloom.

The hard pruned plums are sending out new shoots.

And the lilac blooms are just starting to open up.

Here's a better shot of the cool sign Billy made:

Farm Grade FTW.

A huge flock of robins came in, and just took over the trees.

 The hawks were very excited.

What's Rick pointing at here? His shadow! The sun was out for a moment.

 He surveys the farmland.

Birthday Fun

 It's been raining pretty steadily over the last couple weeks, thus the dearth of posting. But on the 12th, some folks got together on the one dry afternoon. Apparently someone was a little older all the sudden. Laura and Bill came, bearing cake! Laura made a delicious cake to share.

We were so busy eating it that I forgot to get a pic before it was cut, but here you can see all the yummy layers.

Susy, Bill, and Rick enjoy the sunshine.

Noel, Lori, Jane, Keith.

Hmmm... Laura's talking and Billy's drinking beer... a rare pic!

Melinda, Keith, Jane, Lori, Titus, Buddy, Billy.

Bill forages for some broccoli.

They even strung a streamer on the bar. Notice the farm sign in the foreground.

By dark, only the diehards were left.

Spring Cleaning

Yesterday we got busy! Billy came over and hauled a load to recycling. We're cleaning out the old laundry room so we can get it hooked up to the new sewers, assuming they really do put in new sewers.

Watching Bill work got me inspired to do what I'd been threatening for a long time: clean out the shed. Well half the shed anyway. The other half holds the big tools, and is fine. But that old dresser had to go!

Buddy hauled out the other set of shelves, and we put it together. I dragged everything out of the shed. Omg what a mess! We'd stored the cornhole bags in there, and they are full of ... corn. Well they were. The rats had a fine time eating them and pooping everywhere! Soooooo much rat poo. Yuck! Anyway, once the shed was emptied, Buddy and I dragged the old dresser out and we put in the new shelves. It looks so neat!

Well not for long. But now all the things we need are handy and findable. And we aren't making habitat for rats.

Garden Snapshot: Early March

Spring is busting out all over. The plums have fully bloomed and are starting to leaf out. The weather is still unsettled, with sunny days interspersed with rainy ones. No snow since the last storm though! Rick and Buddy enjoy the glen.

The daffodils are so perky! The forsythia is starting to flower also.

All the new trees are doing well. The big mandarin makes a nice counterpoint in this bed.

The earliest irises are thinking about blooming.

This is the apricot branch on the big plum.

This is the peach. Turns out the variety we bought is the same variety from "Epitaph for a Peach."

The cherry tress is showing the very first blooms.

Whereas the plums and apricot have about finished blooming. The fallen blossoms look like snow on the daffodils.

The plum still shows some blossoms, but the leaves are starting to unfurl.

The lilac is leafing out also.

I planted some lettuce (rouge gren) and arugula between the rows of onions. The arugula is already sprouting.

I also started some more peppers:

And the grass seed that Buddy planted is coming up.