Early Spring

We've been hearing robins for a couple of days now and spotted the first bluebirds today, and weren't they busy? Just like us. Taking advantage of the beautiful sunny, warm weather in mid-March. We've had seedlings and greens started indoors for weeks but just got some outdoor planting done this week. Lettuces, spinach and other greens are now planted out in some cold frames (which don't need much covering right now). Robyn also got several rows of Mammoth Melting snow peas in today. We grew this heirloom variety last year for the first time and they were wonderful. Although we enjoyed most raw, out of hand, they are also great in stir-fries. This may be about the earliest I got peas in the ground. Being untrod, the ground was soft and the cattle panels that served as tomato supports from last year were already in place so we went ahead and got them in. No digging, just poking them in. The first year I did a large crop (2005) I had my pea seed snowed on twice and worried a bit about them rotting, instead it was a great germination and yield. Fairly clear forecast for the next week so we plan to get a few more frames planted and more spring chores done.

We recently moved the cows to their new barn and they seem to love it. I should say new to them, the barn itself is very old, built around 1900, and massive. It does have a fairly modern milk parlor although we still do it the old-fashion way. With just Blossom in place, the 20 other unused stalls do make the place seem pretty empty. It took our 16 year old cow 2-3 days to learn her stall and she marches right back out when we unhook her collar. I nicknamed her the "oldest cow in the county" but clearly senility is not an issue. I give the other cows fresh hay at milking time knowing Blossom is queen of the herd and good at throwing her head around. Sure enough, once she marches out the others step aside or are pushed with a thrust of her head and she takes place front and center at the hay. Old? Maybe in the eyes of some.
The cows being at the new barn freed up our semi-finished, "get the cows through the winter" mini-barn. We discussed devoting a corner to the chickens and then creating a fenced run for them. They are usually fenced but are free roaming now. We let them out of their rotating pasture fence after we shut down the garden beds last Fall. I've raised chickens several years now and I prefer to see them fence-free but chickens love ripe tomatoes... and melons, peas, squash, greens, they scratch potatoes, I could tell stories. So its fence the chickens or fence the gardens. Only enough fence for one. But we did strike a pretty good balance and invested in enough fence to give them a nice large area for their small numbers. And as of right now they have free run of the barn, which they did before so... everyone seems happy.

Hope you are too.