If you love sunshine, this day was made for you. If you love warm weather -- well, that's a problem. We're at a high of 47F (8C). Looking ahead, I'm not sure the weather is going to please anyone. Periods of rain, maybe some snow showers, periods of cold -- the kind of stuff that at some level questions your allegiance to the Upper Midwest.
On the upside, there is that sunshine. We'll take it!
At breakfast, I open up the box of new seeds. I ordered some from two places and though both were delayed, I finally got my packets from Johnny's Selected Seeds. I'd never purchased these before so I have no idea how great they'll be, but hey, seeds are seeds, right?
I tell Ed that we should be planting the spinach ones right now.
As in today? Because the bed isn't cleared yet.
But didn't we weed the strip of land for this year's veggies already?
We did the tomato patch. Nothing else.
(This is mildly amusing, since our tomatoes wont be going into the ground until mid May at the earliest. Why not just switch the beds around? Perhaps because it's sunny and we can push ourselves to dig up the rest of the bed and get the whole area prepped for planting.)
Beautiful day!
But heavy work. The soil in my flower beds has been improved tremendously over the years. We've added chips, compost, the cheepers have added droppings. Honestly, it's easy as pie to dig there now. But farmette land elsewhere is one heavy clay pack. You could make pottery pieces out of it. Digging out weeds (with a pitchfork, then with your hands) is backbreaking work. I do one row, Ed does another. Then we rake it all down.
But we finish it! In the afternoon, we lay down some composted stuff and some weed killing (one can hope) cardboard in between the soon to be spinach rows. Tomorrow we'll plant.
In the meantime, what's blooming here at the farmette?
Yeah! Not bad for early April!
In between all this I have a number of social calls. In one day, I skype with Warsaw, FaceTime with Chicago, Zoom with Florida and New Mexico, And have a regular old phone chat with Sun Prairie.
(here's the Zoom chat!)
None of this makes up for what should have been. A visit to Warsaw. The weekend getaway with my two best buds in the southern states. And of course, a farmette visit for the Chicago young family. But sad is the person who wants more than what is before them! I loved my precious minutes so deftly handed to me by our miraculous technology! Primrose shopped for groceries and her mom told me about their supper plans for the evening. I could almost smell the cookies they had baked and I could certainly hear the happy sounds of a little girl playing a real two year old's version of hide and seek.
These are the days when you learn to love extra much all that golden sunshine. So what that it's still cold outside? Wear a jacket. Then go out if you can and revel in that beautiful early spring light out there!
On the upside, there is that sunshine. We'll take it!
At breakfast, I open up the box of new seeds. I ordered some from two places and though both were delayed, I finally got my packets from Johnny's Selected Seeds. I'd never purchased these before so I have no idea how great they'll be, but hey, seeds are seeds, right?
I tell Ed that we should be planting the spinach ones right now.
As in today? Because the bed isn't cleared yet.
But didn't we weed the strip of land for this year's veggies already?
We did the tomato patch. Nothing else.
(This is mildly amusing, since our tomatoes wont be going into the ground until mid May at the earliest. Why not just switch the beds around? Perhaps because it's sunny and we can push ourselves to dig up the rest of the bed and get the whole area prepped for planting.)
Beautiful day!
But heavy work. The soil in my flower beds has been improved tremendously over the years. We've added chips, compost, the cheepers have added droppings. Honestly, it's easy as pie to dig there now. But farmette land elsewhere is one heavy clay pack. You could make pottery pieces out of it. Digging out weeds (with a pitchfork, then with your hands) is backbreaking work. I do one row, Ed does another. Then we rake it all down.
But we finish it! In the afternoon, we lay down some composted stuff and some weed killing (one can hope) cardboard in between the soon to be spinach rows. Tomorrow we'll plant.
In the meantime, what's blooming here at the farmette?
Yeah! Not bad for early April!
In between all this I have a number of social calls. In one day, I skype with Warsaw, FaceTime with Chicago, Zoom with Florida and New Mexico, And have a regular old phone chat with Sun Prairie.
(here's the Zoom chat!)
None of this makes up for what should have been. A visit to Warsaw. The weekend getaway with my two best buds in the southern states. And of course, a farmette visit for the Chicago young family. But sad is the person who wants more than what is before them! I loved my precious minutes so deftly handed to me by our miraculous technology! Primrose shopped for groceries and her mom told me about their supper plans for the evening. I could almost smell the cookies they had baked and I could certainly hear the happy sounds of a little girl playing a real two year old's version of hide and seek.
These are the days when you learn to love extra much all that golden sunshine. So what that it's still cold outside? Wear a jacket. Then go out if you can and revel in that beautiful early spring light out there!
