Early Spring

It looks like we will have an early spring. We did get a bit more wintery weather since the last post, but it's still looking springish. The hyacinths I planted are coming up nicely. They had sprouted by 1-23. Notice how dry that ground looks!

Around that same time, the daffs started blooming, and within a week they were in full bloom.

On Saturday, 1-25, I planted this pack of sweet peas along the back of Buddy's house.

I couldn't resist another arty shot of the sycamores' reflections.

After a long hiatus, we got eggs again. I had held off buying any, so these were well received.

We did get a couple of good heads of broccoli. 

And this Romanesco Veronica survived the frost, but got too aphid infested to eat.

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What We're Eating

Even in the depths of winter, we are eating homegrown food. This dinner was homegrown beans, homegrown broccoli, homegrown green garlic, and homegrown hot sauce, with homemade cornbread. The beans we grew are really excellent. I've had a hard time sharing. However, I did make and share some gingerbread cookies with candied lemon and orange peel. The orange was better.

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The kale in the backyard is small but thriving. I think once it warms up a little, it will take off.

We decided to put in a couple more bare root fruit trees this year. So first I dug a big hole.

Then we drove out to Hodges and got the trees. On the left is a Liz's Late nectarine, and on the right is an O'Henry peach. I already pruned them down to what I want to have as the main branch structure. We only put in two because we'll grow them semi-espalier along the fenceline. The peach will ripen in early August and the nectarine in late August. This will mesh nicely with our other fruit ripening times.

The little bit of rain we got (about half an inch on 1-29) made the ground soft and easy to dig. So I got going on the driveway project. This is the before picture. 

Rick helped me move some of the big pieces around, and I continued to dig out all the bermuda and other weeds.

Including lots of nasty Johnson grass.

Meanwhile, back at the farm... By 1-31 we had iris blooming.

And green buds showing on the plum trees.

Rick got the new chicken pen door constructed. Here he's stapling on the netting.

We got it installed and the pen moved last Sunday (2-2). Speaking of groundhog day, it was cloudy, which should mean an early spring. In case all the stuff blooming wasn't enough of a clue... 

Rick was very proud of the fact that these two tiny snips of wood were all that was leftover from the project. He turned a bit of throw-away packing material into a fantastic door, and didn't even waste any!

We played croquet last Saturday.

Then went back to the farm to frolic in the sunshine. 

Finally, I took this picture so we could really value the beans we grew.