February is half over! Groundhog or not, we’re thinking spring around here. Today it was nearly 40 degrees above with the sun out. What a nice day. So Will decided he’d set out a few round bales of hay and then go work on the new barn. It’s been so cold he hasn’t gotten much done but hopes to stay on it for awhile now that it’s warmed up. So while he went up and down the hill, getting round bales with the Oliver, I stayed at the pasture gate, opening and shutting it to let him through. As the critters always have hay, they aren’t particularly hungry and will zip out the open gate if given half a chance, just for an “adventure.”

Today he hauled two bales out while I got a chance to pet the horses and donkeys. Crystal and Moose, our donkey “herd,” always leave the hay to come get some attention. I noticed Crystal, the tan one, is shedding. Wow! Another clue spring is not far away. And I did see some pussywillows in bloom yesterday on the way to town.

Yesterday I put away my last batch of chili. All in all, I now have 74 quarts and a pint of “new” chili on the pantry shelves! We ate the two which didn’t seal. (Real hard on us … lol)

Tomorrow I’ll get out the seed trays and some peat pellets then decide which peppers I want to grow this year. My friends, Mike and Dara, were here yesterday and we all discussed various varieties we’ll be wanting to plant. It was fun and exciting too. — Jackie

6 COMMENTS

  1. Oh~ you’re right about the tomatoes. I was not being patient. So I think I’ll try and repot them deeply when the time comes. Hopefully it will stall them out enough that they aren’t too leggy. Bad farmer. Bad farmer. :)

  2. Elizabeth,

    I’m getting my seeds out now but won’t be planting tomatoes until March. If I get too early, the plants get too tall and leggy on me so I wait….impatiently. Yea, Spring!!!

  3. Rich R.

    We have about two and a half feet of snow on the level although where the stock is fed and where we’ve plowed, it’s a lot lower, packed down. But it is lower than usual. We’re nowhere near sap yet and that’s good although I have seen several pussy willows blooming. But they often do that real early. Hope to see you at the MREA Fair!

  4. Wow, you have very little snow. Well its worse down in Northern Illinois as we have none. Moisture levels are low even though we did have a bit of heavy rain a few weeks back. The maple trees are pushing sap and buds are swelling. I filled my bird feeder (hung from a maple tree branch) and got rained on by sticky sap. Neighborhood bees were out on cleansing runs and eating up the sap. We’re going to hit 65 degrees this weekend. Enjoyable weather but I worry about the trees getting a blast of arctic weather. Love you articles and hope to see you at MREA in June;-)

  5. We planted peppers, tomatoes and petunia seeds a week ago and the seedlings are already up! Yippee! Spring is a comin’!

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