I’ve been looking and looking for that first spring robin. I usually spot them in cut-over hayfields early in the spring. This morning, while driving into town to mail seed packages, there he was. His/her back was to me, but no other bird does the hop, hop, stop, other than a robin. Now it feels like spring! And the weather has warmed up nicely. Yep, I know we’ll get more cold and more snow. But that’s spring in northern Minnesota. I had to laugh as I’m getting boxes of spring flower bulbs like glads. I won’t be able to plant them until June, so down in the basement with the onions and potatoes until then.
Will and Drew have been getting the manure spreaders ready to work. Our friend had a lot of wood ash delivered via semi-truck load, expecting to pay $5 an acre to get it spread. On second check, it was over $1,500 to spread what he has piled up on a hayfield! Will figured it could be spread with our manure spreaders. At no cost. So, now they’re over there, waiting to be used. I had to laugh. Will’s method of cutting hay strings off of the manure spreader beaters, where they get wound up en masse, is to burn them. He used to cut them off and it took hours. It’s a little scary to see them burn, but he does it in the middle of the gravel driveway near the water hoses and fire extinguisher. Nope, it isn’t “safe,” but it sure cuts down on the time it takes to get them off. I can’t watch.
The guys hauled a bunch of the swamp pads home from the front clearing to stack up at home. Will wants to use three of them to make a platform under the stock tanks so the cows don’t have to walk in the mud that always happens next to them due to overflows and/or leaks. Yes, they’ll eventually rot as they aren’t treated. But we have more to replace them.
While they were doing that, I got four flats of pepper seedlings transplanted. I’ve got quite a few more as we really like our peppers, in about everything, especially Cowboy Candy, Cowgirl Candy, and the relishes I make, not to mention lots of Cowboy Candy syrup I make extra to can up alone. While doing that, I discovered something. I didn’t think pepper stems had root buds on them like tomatoes do. I’ve always buried long stems in the soil when transplanting them, just to sturdy them up and keep them from flopping. When I was transplanting, I noticed some Striped Sugar Rush seedlings already had some roots starting to grow from the stem. See, you’re never too old to learn something!
The greenhouse is now going and nice and toasty for the little peppers to enjoy. Today I’ll be planting more. Yea spring! — Jackie
