peeps and plants

All around me I see spring but when I step outside, the temperature says not quite yet.  Between temps dipping below 32 almost nightly and this fine cold rain that keeps coming for the past few days, I am feeling the pinch to get the garden in and all of our projects done on time.  Most of this happens in pockets of sunshine or at least no rain.

The potatoes are planted and baby greens seem happy out there but my tomatoes inside are looking a bit sad and leggy.  I have done some winter sown tomato and other seedlings outside so I know that they will come up when they are ready and I tell myself that when the time is right, the volunteer tomatoes will take over every inch that they find to grow outside and I will be going nuts trying to repot them all to use.  I ask myself why I feel the need to start tomatoes indoors knowing that this will happen but I guess its just something that I NEED to do?  I guess my reason is that I love tomatoes.  I love certain varieties and I am something of a control hog and need to feel like I am doing my part.

I have started 11 colors of nasturtiums this year and I can’t wait to see all their happy colors outside.  Perhaps planted around the chicken yard and tucked in anywhere that I can put them.  Their blooms and leaves will once again be part of our salads and this year I plan to finally get around to pickling their buds.  We will see.  I found an entire bag of these seed starter peat pellets in the hen house.  I am thinking they were a barter gift from someone last year and boy are they fiddly to work with but they are free and a good resource so we planted them full of nasturtiums.

We have ordered more chicks, because chicks.  We are adding more chicks to the hen house this year and waiting for the store to get the call from the post office that the baby ducks and last chicks have arrived…waiting.   When they are all here we should be at around 30 chickens and 6 ducks.  Buff Orpintons, Auracaunas, Ameracaunas, RIR’s, New Hampshire Reds, Isa Browns, Brahmas, Black Astralorps, Red and Black Sex Links and a gaggle of Indian Runner Ducks.

Mateo has become once again completely enamored with these little yellow fluff balls.  He tells me stories about them all the time.  This morning, he explained to me how they brush their teeth.  Last year, he was named “the chicken strangler” because we had to save quite a few baby chicks from his grasp.  We would even find chicks sticking their heads out of the windows of his vintage Fisher Price Little People airplane.  Poor chicks.  This year he has gotten the hang of it and anytime I don’t see him, he is usually down looking into the baby pool full of chicks.

So much going on around here and by late afternoon, I can count on him to fall asleep somewhere, usually his sheep skin.  People ask me what we do with all of our sheep skins after the babies don’t need them anymore.  My answer is we use them.  We all use them, all of the time.

I am hoping to get into the woods later today if the rain lets up.  The morels are coming up and I am hearing reports from friends nearby who have found some.  I hope to have the same luck and knowing that the window to find them is so short makes me excited and anxious for the weather to cooperate with me.  I am not so much into being wet and cold at the same time.

Love and spring wishes from me to you.