Spring is Finally Here

Orchard Blossoms


Fred


Ginger


Magnolia Beauty


Kitchen Garden

The last time I wrote I was impatiently waiting for spring, bemoaning that it seemed that winter was never going to go, but in just a short two weeks, the tide has changed dramatically. Daffodils are blooming, the magnolias are blooming and I think the apricots are blooming. At least I think they are apricots. It doesn’t really matter, they are blooming and spring is here!

I have been very busy in the gardens, cleaning all of them up after being away for a year. The kitchen garden’s cold frames have overwintered lettuce which is ready to harvest, the spinach and other salad greens that I have seeded are growing, and I have planted out celery, onions, peas and fava beans also known as broadbeans. In the vegetable garden, we have built nine boxes for half the garden, each measuring 3x8 that I have been filling with compost from the barn and from the compost bins. I’m certainly getting my exercise pushing the full wheelbarrow up the hill to the garden so I can fill my new boxes. On deck, next ready for planting are the potatoes, broccoli some cabbage and the rest of the onions. It feels so good to finally be able to go our to the gardens to pick the asparagus, salad greens and soon rhubarb.

On the critter department, Mary the sheep has been sheared and is looking for a ram playmate to frolic the year away with, Regent, the llama is being groomed Friday. We have ordered ten Guinea fowl keets that will be rocking in shortly to help keep down the tick population, 20 cornish cross meat bird chicks and a few turkeys chicks to be raised for the freezer.

I still have to get out into the orchard to clean up the raspberries, that is next on my to do list, as well as mulch the blueberries and fill in the holes the dogs have dug in the orchard looking for rodents before I fall in them and break something.

Steve has been fixing fences and is still sorting through all the photos he took on our Australian grand tour. We have been dreaming of our return, but that will have to wait for a few years yet.

It has been two weeks since I wrote this, and since I still haven’t gotten it posted, I will just add to it.

We have been very busy, just busy with spring, still getting the gardens cleaned up and planted. The onions are in, as well as the potatoes, broccoli, silver beet or chard as we call it here and some red cabbage. It is still way to cold to be planting out the hot crops so that will wait for another week or two. The leaves have finally come out on the trees so everywhere you look the landscape it a lush vibrant green.

We have added to the farm. Fred and Ginger, two young boer goats. We have had dairy goats for years now but the question always comes up when the bucklings are born, in the past we have sold them as meat but to be honest, there isn’t much meat an a Nubian, so our thought was that if we were to use a boer buck and bread our Nubian doe, the kids will have a little more heft to them and will be better value to buy. Hence Fred. Ginger is along for the ride and in another year we will breed her to begin a meatier line. Ginger lost part of her ear to frostbite back in Feb when the temps plummeted way below freezing, we think it adds character.