Spring has finally sprung!

At long last, we are getting some warm weather!  I was reviewing my planting notes from last year and noticed that I am almost a whole month behind.  With the wild weather we've had and Frank destroying our greenhouse, I was beginning to doubt my chances of starting plants.

Repaired greenhouse

TH and THB reinforced our greenhouse with wood sides up to about 2'.  This allows plenty of sun and let us piece the greenhouse back together for one more year.  Replacing the greenhouse is definitely not in the budget for this year.  TH also ran an electric fence around the greenhouse to discourage Frank's destructive behavior.  I just have to remember to step high when I enter or I'll be discouraged too!

"I have no recollection of the events you speak of."

With that done, I started seeds today.  I have tomatoes, peppers, squash, zucchini, and a few cucumbers in warm spots around the house for germination.  Once the germinate, I'll begin the dance of carrying them out to the greenhouse on warm days and back inside during the nights when temperatures dip below freezing.

We had our first hatch of the year last week.  Our dual mother hens hatched six little black chicks and are working together nicely to raise them.  We recently discovered one of our white chickens on a hidden nest in the barn.  She is a beautiful chicken that lays green eggs so I'm eager to see what her chicks will look like.  I just hope she manages to get them across the road safely.

The guineas have been busy defending their home turf.  Friday, I came out to feed animals and found a standoff between two canadian geese and our gang of 4 guineas.  (We have 5 guineas but the 5th thinks it is a chicken and doesn't associate with the others.)  The geese were standing in the middle of the garden honking and the guineas were standing on the edge of the garden squaking.  They finally convinced the geese to leave and all was quiet for a few hours.  Near dusk, TH asked me if one of my guineas had gotten white on its side.  I looked out to see that our neighbor up the road's two guineas had finally made it down this far. Our guinea gang wasn't very inviting and chased them back out of the garden.  They haven't returned but I'm sure our two groups will inter-mingle quite a bit this summer.

If good weather holds up, we'll be planting potatoes Monday.  I picked up our seed potatoes in town today along with a couple pounds of onion sets and a few cabbage and broccoli plants.  It's been pretty wet lately so we'll need lots of sunshine for the ground to be workable.

Hope you all are enjoying Spring!