Now it’s spring for sure and things are popping around here. Our daffodils are in full bloom after sitting under snowbanks for months and boy do they look beautiful! Our friend, Heather, came late last fall and ask if she could do something to help me out. I handed her several bags of fancy daffodils I hadn’t been able to get to and said to just plant them wherever she could find a spot. It was quite late, and I didn’t even know if they’d make it. But they did and I love them. Thank you Heather!

I’m so thrilled with these late-planted daffodils!

Our baby goats are all here (all four of them), three boys and one girl. The little buckling I had in the house and didn’t know if he would make it came around just fine. And his mother, a first-freshener, took him with no problem. Whew! I hate milking those first-fresheners, as they have such short teats. But next year, both of the does will have perfect udders and be much easier to milk. David was here on Saturday, working on his house so I asked him to help catch baby goats so we could disbud them. I had been putting it off as I have a hard time catching those fast little buggers and I really hate to burn their horn buds. It stinks and they yell. But I know it’s saving their lives as with horns, they can get caught and strangled in each other’s collars and the squares of the wire fence. For us, it’s a necessary thing. They are also vaccinated against overeating disease and tetanus at the same time, plus a later booster. So, we’re not the only ones that get vaccinated! Will and I just got our second COVID booster with no ill effects, whatsoever, not even a sore arm.

We love watching the baby goats play king of the mountain on this upside-down bathtub.
The buckling on the left is the nearly-dead newborn I tube fed and warmed up in the house. He’s great now. Notice the rings on their horn buds, where we disbudded them.

I was busy and Will took “my” tractor and tiller out and tilled the Sand Garden and right now is tilling the Main Garden. The others are still too wet to till. This first tilling keeps the weeds down; we’ll be tilling again at least one more time, maybe twice before planting. We’re also busy picking up, pulling stock panels down off T posts — which we use as trellises for pole beans — removing hoses, water lines, and posts from the various gardens. Our asparagus has popped up too, so tonight, we’re having the first asparagus of the spring. That will be a celebration! — Jackie

20 COMMENTS

  1. Hi Jackie-
    This is the only place I could find to ask a question about your seed packet markings. I checked Seed Treasure website but couldn’t find answer.
    My question is-
    On the seed pkts it is written “20 seeds 80 days wls1. Or 20 seeds 75 days mo1 or msg1. What are the msg1 or mo1 or wls1?

  2. I just now finished setting out all my veggie starts into the garden bed. There is a light rain and the lows are in the high 30’s at night so I am hoping it keeps getting warmer and sunnier here in eastern Washington. The tulips are blooming and everything is so green! Birds are returning too:) Hooray for Spring!!

    • Amen to that, Dianne!! I sure hope you don’t get a surprise frost. That happens, all too often, to us and we have to tear around to save everything above ground.

  3. You just can’t beat the taste of the first asparagus of the year. Next servings taste good too but just *not* quite the same.
    I think the last tater plant is finally coming up – guess I’ll name him Pokey. I’m sure there are a few more morels out there but after the heat and rain, the woods are in overdrive. Which makes hunting a bit more of a challenge.
    Fancy daffodils indeed – as we cleaned up our property, the daffodils went into overdrive (as well as other domestic flowers planted long, long before we moved here). Squirrels must pluck the “bulbs” that appear and bury them as every year we have more and more daffodils.

  4. Hey, I want to be vaccinated against overeating disease! (I’m sure you’re referring to a goat-specific disorder, but wouldn’t it be amazing if there was such a thing for humans?!?)

  5. I love daffodils they always brighten my day when they start blooming, Mine are almost done blooming here in lower, lower Michigan. I planted asparagus 2 year old roots and they are producing now but only thin asparagus. My older plants have thick stocks. Is it the kind of plants that produce different size stocks? I like the thick they are so good. Anyway the goats are so cute. I need some seeds. Will send you an order tomorrow. I think I have been following your blog for at least 10 years. I enjoy hearing all about your garden and farm animals etc.

    • And I love sharing it with you all. I would suggest fertilizing your newer asparagus with some rotted manure. That makes all the difference in stalk size. Also, 2 year old roots are often kind of small and don’t produce large stalks the first or second year so hang in there.

  6. Your daffodils look beautiful! My iris and peonys are budded and should bloom in a week or so. We had been quite cool here and then suddenly last we were in a heat wave with highs in the 90s. Whew that was hot after 60s. Got my garden planted the end of the week. I had started some seed in milk jugs outside in late February and it worked very well. I started cabbage, broccoli and tomatoes. I transplanted them into the garden and so far so good. Hummingbirds are at the feeder. Spring is a lovely time of year. Prayers for a good week.

    • We had eighties last week and now it’s supposed to snow this weekend. Eeek! All of our plants are still inside yet as we’ll be getting freezing between now and June. But our birds are back and we sure do enjoy them. Yesterday I had a female oriole and a male indigo bunting! So cool.

  7. Sweet little goaties! Looks like spring chores are moving right along. It will be so nice when everything is in the ground and popping up. Deb and I love to see your updates. It’s fun to see all the changes you have made. Pyro

    • Yep, every year there are new changes. That’s life, huh? I’m dying to get to planting but know we’ve got freezing coming yet and have to hold off.

  8. Garden is winding down for the summer. Too hot for most of my veggies. I still have black-eyed peas, Seminole pumpkin and everglades tomatoes. And I’m waiting for sweet potato slips. Going to let half lie fallow, so the tree removal guy can get rid of a dying oak. Freezer is full, so running dehydrator.
    Question: have you ever raised sheep for milk? Thinking 1 or 2 could do triple duty: milk, wool, meat.

    • I haven’t, personally, but had a friend who raised milking sheep and loved them. My back is too bad to shear sheep and a professional shearer won’t show up for one or two sheep. So I have cows and goats; meat and milk and hope my friend, Dara, shows up with some of her fabulous hand-knit socks before winter.

  9. Exciting news! My grass has greened up. I had a friend come over to show me how to trim the apple trees before it’s too late. It’s been a long processe, as these trees haven’t been trimmed in probably 30 years. But a good one. Hopefully I’ll finish this week. We still have 22 more calves to go, so I’m jealous of your end of kidding season!

    Enjoy the heat!

    • Our goats are done kidding, in just three days! But we’ve only had one calf yet. Will had to sell half his herd but we still have a few big cows left, yet to calve. We did the happy dance, as our grass greened up and grew like mad. When we let the cows out of the corral, they did a happy dance across green pastures.

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