From Snow to Sun

Wednesday it snowed, all day!  I have never seen a day in all my 30 something years where the snow didn't stop falling from morning to evening.  It was beautiful even if it didn't stick.

Thursday morning, there was enough snow to warrant a snow day!  The glorious thing about being up before the 6:00 hour starts is watching the day awaken.


I have to say, there is something magical, perhaps a bit Narnia-ish, about a glowing street lamp.

Double take moment...B on a cell phone while vacuuming Sister.   

This isn't the greatest picture but it shows the start of something wonderful to come.  I didn't get a chance to clean out the garden before Winter set in.  I have had a few weeding and mulch days but I had yet to tackle the main growing beds.  Today (Saturday) was beautiful.  The sun was out, the air was warm, and everywhere Spring was coming alive!  I spent most of the day weeding and preparing the raised beds and the fence/hillside beds for planting.  I even managed to harvest beets, carrots (didn't know I had missed that many) and a few onions.  The chickens were thrilled to scarf down on the kale that had gone to seed and the numerous grubs and slugs I tossed into the coop.  I am impressed at what I can overwinter here - kale, chard, onions, leeks, carrots, and beets all edible at the end of March.  We had a few cabbages and cauliflower in January as well.  

Phil moved the cattle panels to the first level of the hillside bed.  I pulled out all the cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, and kale plants a few weeks back.  This is ready for peas but I ran out of time and top soil today.  I have found that with our nutrient depleted soil, I need to plant all my seedlings in a hole/trench of top soil to give them a better start.  I did manage to plant a trellis of sweet peas and some ground cover sweet peas today though.

Did it really snow all day just 4 days ago?  Did snow really cover the ground just 3 days ago?  I watch the dwindling pile of snow that fell off the chicken house coop and landed in the shadiest part of the yard fade away as I worked today.

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