More signs of spring

Today is sunny but breezy. Hilda and I had a nice walk. Each time I’m able to get outside, I see more signs of life. I’m sad to report there is no activity where the white trillium is supposed to be. There is one rather lonesome-looking red trillium making an appearance by the garage. Too soon to tell if that bump in the middle will or will not turn into a flower.

Red trillium

The prairie smoke is doing very well and will be in full flower soon.

Prairie smoke

The wild ginger is up near the creek. Once this plant gets going, it is capable of outcompeting weeds. It will be interesting to see if it can prevail against the ubiquitous garlic mustard and reed canary grass.

Wild ginger

The trees are flowering all over, giving a fuzzy appearance to the thicket that borders the west side of our land.

Boxelder flowers

The tiny cotyledons on the wetland are big enough this week to show up in a picture. They all look a lot alike. It is probably more evidence that they are, in fact, all the same kind of weed. I don’t see any sign yet of the oats we planted as a cover crop. The birds may have eaten most of those seeds. I am going to spread more oats tomorrow in hopes that we get the rain that is predicted. The last front dumped rain all around us, leaving us with only 0.3”. Terry persists in telling me every morning how much rain we do or do not need. I remind him that it isn’t financial aid—rain is not awarded according to need.

Tiny cotyledons among the dead grass leaves

Hilda’s seedlings are doing well. We hope to start planting onions, potatoes, and cabbage next weekend.

Readiness activities

It has been a beautiful weekend. The thermometer reads 76°. I opened the windows to get rid of the lingering smell of yesterday’s red-wine-braised brisket. It smelled good when it was cooking, but enough is enough.

Terry got the tractor out yesterday to rototill the garden. The soil was perfect, he said. 

Terry rototills the garden

Today he and I planted 75 asparagus plants in a patch of soil where he used to have lilacs and Nanking cherries. He dug up and moved the lilacs last week. The Nanking cherries just got torn out. We don’t have the right site for them. He tilled the soil with the tractor, and today we were ready to plant. In a bold move, I put away my winter boots and got out my gardening boots. I put on my gardening pants and got my knees dirty for the first time this season. 

It will be nice to have more asparagus. Our pilot study that we planted a few years ago is completely inadequate. We have to harvest for a whole week before we have enough for one meal for two. It takes several years for the asparagus to get going. In the first year, you can only harvest for one week. The rest of the growth has to go to the roots. Next year, we can harvest for two weeks, and so forth. In several years, we will be able to harvest for the asparagus’ whole growing season.

The girls are so happy to be out and about. They come a-runnin’ every time anyone walks by the fence, ever hopeful that treats are forthcoming. If no treats are forthcoming, they don’t hold it against you. They just go back to scratching in the dirt, pecking at sticks, lounging in the sun, or rolling in the dust. One never knows where one will find something wonderful.

The girls come to the fence to see if treats are coming. Ingrid is particularly excited!

Hilda has been busy in the greenhouse. I made sure to get some pictures of her. Not to sound morbid or anything, but that is how I would like to remember her when she’s gone. She loves to work in the greenhouse.

Hilda pots up a cabbage plant

Onion (back) and fennel (front) seedlings

Brussels sprouts babies

I walked out to where we seeded the prairie last fall. The standing water has come and gone twice now since the snowmelt. I had to squat down to see tiny cotelydons coming through the soil. I’d like to think they are sprouting from the tiny seeds we scattered. Chances are they are just weeds. The seed catalog said on every page that it takes three years to really see the prairie develop. I must be patient. Think of how much asparagus I’ll have by then!

Spring at last

It’s been raining off and on. Yesterday afternoon, the temperature was 78°! Almost hot. After such a long cold winter, I had forgotten how much easier it is to live when it’s warm. I automatically brace myself for the cold air to hit me when I go outside but wait—it’s not cold. It’s nice! With the first warm rain, the grass has greened up considerably in the last week.

A different color on the lawn!

I had some leftover buttermilk after I made muffins. Buttermilk is reputedly good for chickens as a probiotic for their crops (“crop” in this case being part of their digestive system). I found two flattened hamburger buns, circa Labor Day, in the back of my freezer. I broke the buns into the buttermilk and gave it to the girls. It was the Best Thing Ever (as usual). I videotaped the event for your enjoyment. The chickens ate their treat in two phases. The first phase is to grab a piece of bread out of the bowl and give it a good shake, flinging buttermilk everywhere including all over the photographer’s legs. The bread gets dropped, picked up, shaken, dropped, stolen, and finally eaten. After the bread is gone, phase 2 begins. All the hens gather around the bowl and drink the remaining buttermilk making tap, tap, tap noises on the bottom. I didn’t realize until I played back the recording that the woodpecker and redwing blackbirds were louder than the clucking of the hens. As you watch the video, enjoy the sounds of spring, including the occasional gust of wind.