I Made It!! Spring is Here

Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes!!

The days are longer, daylight savings time arrived, there has been some sunshine, and even a few days where the temperature reached 60's, the daffodils are blooming, and everywhere green shoots are popping up out of the ground.  It is here, it is really here, SPRING!!

Still chilly frosty mornings

The first mow of the new year (the first mow since, maybe October)

Perfect for doing flips (although the ducks do love to nibble through the green grass fertilizing as they go).


Storms roll in and out, puffy clouds capture light and shadows, Spring means cloud watching!







These picture was actually taken at the very end of February.  It was Sunday, we were listening to a sermon online, and I was planting my seeds on the deck, in the sunshine.  The sun felt so warm and it was so amazing to be outside and so amazing to be doing "spring things" that I couldn't help but tear up.  It was a rough rough winter.


My greenhouse isn't up yet.  There were literally no stretches of dry weather in which we could rototill a spot so I tried to use the duck coop greenhouse.  I decided that it was just too dark...and then the mice discovered the seeds and ruined all my flats.  I replanted and moved them to my parent's greenhouse, where the mice got into those flats as well.  So, 3rd time is a charm...hopefully some of my beautiful annuals will come up!

The children were maybe not so thrilled to put in a lot of weeding hours but we tackled the vegetable garden and got things cleaned up.

The strawberry bed was such a mess that I transplanted the best of the plants, then cardboarded and mulched the former beds in hopes of killing the thistle and sheep's sorrel.

Phil helped me put up hoops and row covers until dark.

Which didn't work.

The old Strawberry bed, cardboarded and mulched and marked for planting tomatoes.


This is the only section we have left!  The two older girls were amazing weeders.

My greenhouse is going up!!!  I am so excited!  We are also going to plant corn, melons and pumpkins and squash, and wildflowers at this location.  All of which I can heavily cardboard around and use weedbarrier as I work to get rid of the weeds. 




Brighton and Glorielle were so excited for a little teaser of nice weather that they cleaned and filled up the kiddie pool and went wading.  The next morning it was iced over.  The ducks were very grateful for their effort.

We have been working on cleaning up under the tree blocks.  Not quite sure what to do with the ginormous piles of branches.  We need to rent a chipper. 




Before and after pictures.  I took the picture below during the ice storm before the branches started to crack and break.  I was looking out at the tree block and astonished at how much it changed when all the limbs broke off.  I recreated the picture to show the difference.

During the ice storm...

 
...and after

I wish mice weren't so cute...but they have to go.  We have our mouser kitties learning to be outside kitties with lots of recess time.  And Phil bought mouse traps and taught Brighton how to use them.

He caught 8 mice in the greenhouse duckcoop in about 12 hours.


Duck duck duck duckies!!!  They have wrecked my veggie garden by nibbling the starts and sticking their bills into the rows where my seeds are planted (fencing around the veggie garden is on the to do list) but they are helpful slug control and I love watching them with their comical running and hearing them quacking contentedly and calling to each other.






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