After the Big Chill

After three freezing nights, this morning Adam got up and, noting the stillness in the air, started a big burn pile.

For a second time, I saw a snake and did not scream. This fellow was on the warm ashes beside the fire. I thought he was too close. I prodded him, and he slithered under the big stump we've been trying to burn up for over a year.

I rolled the stump over into the fire, and there he was, curled up. The stump was smoking, and I wondered if he was dead. I prodded him again.

And I'm sorry to say, he slithered into the fire. It was shocking! As his head neared the very hot embers, he tried to recoil, but it was too late. His head was singed. He died and I carried him away.
Later I saw a lizard on that same stump! I didn't mess with him at all.

Our tree-chipping friends delivered yet another pile of mulch. For free!! Yay!! Adam gets to haul and haul and haul ... again!

Now that he's mulched to his heart's content in the veggie patch, this new mulch went over the shrubs along the road front.

Adam has taken to calling our vegetable garden, the "patch," as the British do. He's so silly.
Here's my new chicken, Snow. She's still in isolation, although her private pen is inside the other chickens' yard, so they are around each other. Next week I plan to put them together under close supervision. She has grown a lot.

Here's her face. I've read that hens with white earlobes lay white eggs, and hens with red earlobes lay brown eggs. Hers are small yet, but look like they might be pinky red. I'm wondering if she's actually a leghorn; there are other white breeds. We shall see!

I'm wondering about my eucalyptus tree. All her leaves are copper brown after the winter. Is she alive?

The leaves are quite pretty. I just hope there's new growth coming soon.

And now! My Lady Banks Rose! Look at her! I'm so pleased and proud. She's blooming beautifully in this her first year.

Tiny little blooms.
Here's my Baby. I finally got a close-up shot of her face. I can't tell you why, but she is just my dog. I know she adores me. Don't know why. She doesn't look like the kind of dog I might choose for myself. But there you have it -- we've picked each other. I just love her.

I love her sweet face and her soft ears. When she lets me caress her face and whisper to her, I feel that we understand our love for each other :)
My white hyacinths are gorgeous too, yes?

What's blooming in your yard, friend? Are you still in winter's grip? I think ... hopefully ... we are past our big chill this year.

When Everything Happens at Once!

After more than a year, these fellows came to our little farm at last.

They're clearing tree limbs for the power lines along our two-lane highway. Adam talked with them, and they agreed to come dump all the wood chips/mulch that they cut-and-grind, here on our farm! Yay!! Free mulch!

They delivered the first pile this morning. Adam's spent the whole day thus far hauling mulch in the wheelbarrow back to the garden.

He'll mulch between the garden beds and other places we want to keep weeds down. And speaking of garden beds, I finished planting the spring bed. The close end now has a row of peas with a row of spinach in front of it. That's FIFTY FEET of spring garden yumminess!!

It doesn't look like much now, but hopefully it will later! It's the worst of the garden beds, as you see -- it doesn't have any edging to keep weeds at bay. Much of this bed was actually under last year's greenhouse and hasn't been a bed before.
Yesterday Adam worked on bees before they were flying. It was a cool morning. He's putting two heavy posts into the ground. They used to be stands for grinding telescope lenses. The bases are cement in 5-gallon buckets. The buckets are buried, so these stands will be quite solid. He'll build a new bee table atop them and raise the hives higher than they presently are.

This morning our asparagus is looking lovely. Lots of spears coming up. We will give it another year at least to strengthen and proliferate.

Adam is trying again to start new fig trees in the hoop house. Last year I think we failed to keep them moist enough, and none of the cuttings took. We'll see how it goes this year.

One willow branch is also there, given by a farmer friend. We have plenty of low spots just perfect for a pretty willow tree.
Below, you see our old collard/kale bed from the winter. Soon it will be full of strawberries. It's about 2 feet by 5 feet.

Adam bought some fun new additions to the farm: two packages each of strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, and grapes.

Today I planted the strawberries in their bed, kicking the kale out just in time. We ate the kale for lunch in a salad :) There were 22 little strawberry plants in those two boxes. I do hope they thrive! It's a very nice bed for them.
A local chicken lady also gave me two new hens. You can see the one on the right is younger -- she's not full-sized yet.

It's wise to keep them segregated for a while and incorporate them very slowly into the flock. Hens can be mean. This is a large dog kennel, but Adam also put together a small new coop from some things around the farm, and it's in the old chicken yard.

We still have some chilly weather coming and some freezing temps, so we are not quite "free-and-clear" for spring, even in this balmy part of the world. So much is blooming, including forsythia.

Baby, our new farm dog, is just doing great! We are so pleased about how nicely she's settled in. She seems relaxed and happy, and not stressed and afraid as she was at first.

Last but not least, I must announce a personal mile-stone. A little while ago I went on the front porch-cum-greenhouse, and I saw a small brown snake there. slithering along the wall. And I didn't scream. That is a major accomplishment!