Our snow is gone

Well … mostly, that is; there still are a few lingering piles, here and there, mostly in the shade of the woods. But our snow’s gone and that’s the most important thing. (Even though we got six inches of new snow a few days back, which quickly melted. Thank God!)

We’re busy as beavers outside right now. I’m cleaning out my poor neglected flower beds this week. And trying to fix another in our side yard where a nice balsam blew over during the winter. It seems like carpenter ants had gotten into the trunk, below ground and eaten their way up into the trunk. When the wind blew, down she came. Under that tree, which Will cut up and I hauled off, there was a depression. This morning, Will hauled three tractor bucket loads of compost into the bed, dumping it fairly close. Now I can shovel it into the depression and level the area out. When done it’ll make a nice bed for some daylilies and hostas.

Will is gearing up to begin sawing logs for lumber on our Hud-Son bandsaw mill. We’ll need plenty for the rest of the haymow floor and barn siding on our new barn. But, gee, the weather could cooperate! It’s forty and VERY windy this week; three days so far and it looks like more of the same for much of the rest of the week. Brrrr, it makes outside work cold!

I bought some begonia bulbs on sale at Menards and have them potted inside to get started for hanging baskets and containers for the shade. It takes them so long to get up and going that here you really need to start them 8 weeks or more before you plant them outside or put them in hanging baskets. I’m determined to make up for the bum knee last spring and summer.

Our plastic greenhouse covering arrived on Friday. Will is taking down our last hoop house in preparation for Bill coming up with his tractor-mounted rototiller on Mother’s Day. (Can you think of a better Mother’s Day gift for a homesteading mom?) I’ve got to move our rhubarb plants; they’re right in the middle of everything as they used to be against the fence … before we enlarged the garden. Once tilled nicely, we’ll put up the new double-length 12′ x 32′ hoop houses, complete with their new plastic. We’re real excited about that. — Jackie