Under the Snow

It's official that this area of the garden will be planted by my sister and I {hopefully by the end of May}.  We may expand to the whole side of this garden if those plots are not adopted, but for sure this is our spot.  I'm looking forward to surrounding it with sunflowers again this year and planting zinnias and cosmos along the path.

Planting seems so far away right now with all the cold and snow hanging around, but really, it's not!

I haven't yet mapped everything out yet, but am looking forward to getting it as finalized as possible this weekend.  I went ahead and subscribed to a garden planner and am trying it out this year.  I'll still put it down on graph paper for posterity, but the garden planner has been interesting to play with.  I do like how it recommends spacing {something I sometimes struggle with at times}.  I, however, am finding I don't like planning on a computer screen and prefer my colored pencils and graph paper, so we'll see if "garden planner" sticks around for next year.

And then there's the garden at the house...we won't get started on that yet though.

I've even changed my route to work so that each morning I go by this community garden spot since I have to drive through town anyways.  It's actually quite nice {and I think on most days about 8 minutes faster}.  My eyes are starting to anticipate spring, and then summer--lilacs, loons singing into the night, fireflies, endless song bird song through the day, geraniums and sweet potato vines on the deck greeting me as I drink my morning coffee, gentle rain and thunder too....

Spring in the Northwoods

A wet "spring" snow has covered everything with a fresh layer of white.  It's replaced what has melted and if it wasn't so beautiful I might be in a bad mood about it, but it is so very beautiful.

At 2 1/2 Weeks

And Now It's Time to Clean the Barn

It hasn't been above freezing at my place since November 25th.  I flirted with something above 32* around Christmas one day and also one day back in January, but the thermometer at my house never made it all the way there--and right after those tantalizingly warm days which felt so foreign it plunged way back down.  It's been a very cold winter with hardly even days in the 10* to 20* range up here in the woods.  But today it got up to 45*.  Let me say that again--it was 45* up here!  I could hardly believe it and kept finding every excuse I could to be outside, from fixing a bird feeder the squirrels had gotten a hold of to shoveling off the slush from the deck, or just to watch the animals enjoy it all too, anything so that I could just marvel at the fact that it could get that warm again and breathe it all in deeply.  So much snow was melting that from inside, where I had every single window in the place open, it sounded like rain.

It was also a day to start cleaning the barn.  My little barn--yeah it started its life labeled utility shed but it says it's a barn because it houses animals not lawn mowers, has been in a frozen state pretty much since December.  That means there's a lot to be cleaned.  But by tomorrow evening it will be on its way to being ship shape.  I'm looking forward to the day that the chickens can go on out to there outside run, which is about 4 feet deep in snow, until perhaps next December...maybe by the end of the month?  It did feel good to be out there, outside, working in the freshness of it all.

Everybody and everything seemed to revel in the change today brought.  It's something how weather--something totally out of our control--influences moods, hopes, energy.  I know that this burst in temperatures has certainly boosted my spirits, and I didn't even realize they needed boosting.

It has me missing my horse, whose been such a trooper this winter after 4 years in the desert, and I found myself getting the saddle that has been collecting dust all winter ready to go instead of vacuuming.  It has me ready to sit out on the deck while I drink my morning coffee again.

The to do list was long today.  Cleaning inside and out, rabbits to get in the freezer, and pedigrees to finalize for rabbits to get ready for new homes.  My parents will be visiting in the next few days and the room they will be sleeping in is a compilation of sewing supplies and unpacked debris from moving...but at the end of today it was nice to stop it all and go out and watch the sunset in only a sweatshirt knowing more days of the same are ahead according to the forecast.  I can almost hear the forest thawing and breathing a sigh of relief too.

I'm not naive enough to believe there won't be another stint of cold or snow, but today sure felt good!

Winter Eggs

After getting home this evening and letting the dogs out to run around in the woods behind the house to investigate the squirrel and rabbit action they've been watching from the windows all day, I went in to say hello to the girls.  I asked them if they wanted to go outside for a while and they resolutely refused doing an abrupt about face after pecking at the snow right outside the door.  Upon investigating what they'd been up to all day, I found two of the girls had left me an egg apiece.  A welcome surprise after a few weeks of next to no egg action.

Most people don't get many eggs in the winter.  I've been very fortunate.  When my young hens started laying it was already very cold, but they continued to all lay an egg a day until just a few weeks ago.  The one week it actually got to 20* for a few days in a row they stopped.  This is quite backwards!  My gals have been very spoiled compared to some chickens this winter though, inside a little barn with plenty of room to roost and play with a heater that is mostly for the rabbits and has never let the temperature drop below 0* {without the heater my critters would have to had endured multiple days and weeks in the -15* and well below range--not something I'm willing to risk with my rabbits}, and they've even had 24 hour lighting in the form of a strand of Christmas lights.  The lighting--although dim--and the heater {which has actually been switched off for several days in a row!} surely helped keep the girls laying.  And a few days ago two gal, I think probably Pansy and Ida, started laying again after perhaps adjusting to the fact that it could be 40* in their chicken world again!

It felt very strange to be running low on eggs after about 3 solid months of egg bounty.  It'll be interesting to see how things go next winter.  I would like to have eggs through the winter and it wouldn't be too hard to keep them in the barn again.  Three laying hens are very manageable and all I really need right now.  As it is I'm giving eggs away.  Has it been the heaters and the lights or just the fact that they're peppy young birds?  Will my chickens slow down as 2 year old hens and not lay despite warmth and lights?  Things I'm curious to find out. Right now these two eggs mean French toast in the morning.

All of a Sudden

A little more sun goes a long ways...is it really almost spring?  Suddenly it seems so!

Granted, spring does mean something different up here than some other places.  Before there are bees buzzing and lilacs blooming, snow has to melt and then mud has to form.  All very essential steps in the whole process I remind myself.  It was not very long ago that I was actually envious of other's winters. As they mourned another snowstorm or another grey day I secretly wished I was there instead of my 70* flip-flop weather desert climate.  And, even though Spring is eagerly anticipated, I find myself still loving the grey wash to the sky and the fact that I need a heavy coat and gloves.  Will I find myself even loving the mud and slush?  Time will tell...

Chicken Salad

The Kits are Here

I've been observing Apple making her nest for the past few days.  I always throw in newspaper and let the gals use that to build their nests with, and then, right before the babies show up or sometimes right after they begin filling the nest with fur--or in one of my rabbit's cases the whole entire hutch and the nest.  Every single litter I've ever had has been born at night, so when I saw her filling the nest with fur when giving out breakfast I thought "tonight maybe?"

I've been under the weather lately and home more than usual, so today when I went in at noon to just check on her progress I was surprised to see the furry pile move just a little...which only meant one thing.

In her nest six plump, pink babies are perfectly snuggled.  I've been nervous about Apple.  I really want her to be a good mother--mother rabbits who don't foster their litters make for a hopeless situation that's not fun to deal with.  So far so good and I can feel myself breathing a sigh of relief.

Apple, keep up the good work.

Someday Soon

Winter still has its teeth in {current count:  74 days below zero since Dec. 2nd.--22 days not above zero}.  When it's -20* or colder I don't sleep solidly.  I keep waking up and going out to check on the rabbits and chickens making sure that the heater hasn't stopped working on them {which has never happened--they've never dipped below zero in the barn}.  After going outside and getting hit in the face with that kind of cold that's often accompanied with wind it's hard to get back to sleep!  I've read a lot of books so far this winter-and surely am going to get that coffee cup award for meeting the local library's winter challenge and then some.

But someday soon spring will be here--at least the calendar says so.  And after spring comes, summer will, which if it proves anything like last summer equals something similar to paradise on earth.  In preparation for these events it's officially time to start planting.

It was a thrill to go through the seed stash and evaluate what needed to be purchased.  Then, even more wonderful to go out and buy a special shelf for my new trays and some vermiculite to sprinkle on the top of those baby seeds.  My first seed order came in last week from Kitazawa Seed Company and I'm placing my Baker Creek order this weekend.

Right now looking out at all that whiteness I'm picturing planting day.  It will truly feel like a holiday, and I know that because of this narly winter, this summer will be loved and appreciated so much more than even last summer--which makes this winter worth it really.

These rabbits have been the ultimate troopers this winter.  I keep telling them that someday it will get warmer.  They silently endure and patiently wait for me to thaw their bottles and add fluff to their hutches.  Spring babies will be almost summer babies this year.  I did bring a few of the gals inside the laundry room to warm up and one gal, Apple--my best built Californian, is busy making a nest right now and doing her own waiting.  Her first litter was not a success when she delivered too early last summer.  A fall litter never showed up.  I'm hopeful this time around will be a little better.  Having baby rabbits around here again will surely make things feel a little warmer.  I never get my hopes up until after the second week of a litter's life, but I am starting to hope.

I went out today and stood in the thigh deep snow and pictured in my mind the garden space that will most likely go in near the house this spring.  Right now the scrubby bramble pokes out of the snow making quite a picturesque scene.  At the same time I was appreciating the piercing bite to the air that makes one feel so alive and the brightness of the sun filtering through the trees, I pictured myself pulling all this in something other than my heavy winter coat...I do believe I will love doing this--almost rejoice in it all.  Don't get me wrong, I do love winter--really, but for someone who loves to be outside in the sunshine the seasons to follow are very exciting to imagine right now.