Ready for the Greening

After a winter that has lingered and loitered, we are getting antsy for spring to come to us in earnest. It was still snowing this past week - even creating light accumulations. But today dawned bright and clear and though the temps were in the 50's the sun made it seem warmer.

Caleb and the kitties found some daffodils getting ready to bloom. Even without blooming, their green makes a lovely splash of color in an otherwise brown world. Without his bright scarf and Duey's white markings, the pets would all but disappear into the browns and greys of leaves, stones and branches. The winter is leaving but spring hasn't taken its place yet and so we wait for the greening with hopeful hearts.

We prepared a raised bed to receive seeds for radish, salad greens, onions starts and sweet peas. I can't wait to put fresh veggies on the table!

The chickens have been enjoying the fresh air and scratching for their lunch but I'm sure they are as eager to eat fresh greens as we are. After suffering the loss of Foghorn, the rooster, to a neighbor's dogs we are in the market for a new leader and protector for our girls. They continue to lay delicious eggs but more than once we have been grateful for a rooster to guard and protect them. He was doing that very thing when he met his end and thanks to him we didn't lose a hen that day. Or the day he wrestled with a fox. He was very good at his job.

And now the bed is ready for the hoop top we will build to protect from frost, chickens, and curious cats. We'll get our hands in the dirt along with some seeds and wait for the miracle of new life to unfold. Spring brings so much hope to us here on the homestead!

More Homestead Summer

Once the garden began producing, there was something to harvest daily, hard but satisfying work. Here come Steph and Kent with a load - and a little help.

 

 

And also satisfying is sitting down to a meal and realizing that you grew most of what you are eating. Here's a dinner of chicken pot pie with our own chickens and veggies, refrigerator cucumbers and coleslaw.

 

 
We grew dry beans for the first time. These were called "French Horticultural". I thought they looked like Jacob's Cattle. And so easy to grow. Plant them, make sure they get weeded and watered, wait for them to dry out, snap off the pods and shell them at your leisure. We'll be planting at least three times as many this year.
 

 
Here's a homestead breakfast - pancakes with fresh milled grain, eggs, from our chickens, maple syrup from our trees and our own strawberries. Makes my mouth water. And maybe this year we'll add a cold glass of our own goat milk!

 
And maybe sometimes when we sit around the dinner table we talk of unusual and somewhat obscure questions, like:

"If you pull a vacuum on a marshmallow, what happens?" This was probably preceded by conversation about vacuum sealing food, the qualities of food being sealed and the science of what happens in a vacuum.

Which meant we had to immediately grab the Foodsaver and find out! It expanded impressively.