Country tidbits

As I am still getting used to blogging, I was unsure of what to write. My mind was swirling with ideas. There is so much to put down. So I will just spit it out in "tidbits".

On Saturday last, I picked up 3 black lop eared runny babbits, an assortment of 15 chicks, and headed off to visit my mother. She can't come to the farm, so I took the farm to her. We had a great visit. Mother fussed over the babies all afternoon. She even found a basket to put all the chicks into, wrapped them in a towel and took some great pictures. Aren't they so cute?? Husband says " you say that now, just wait till they start pooping on the front porch and eating your plants". He is, as always, right.

Spring has sprung. Or so we hope. Things are popping up everywhere here in the Banana Belt. I was slightly worried yesterday for the state of the fruit trees, as it was snowing 10 miles north of where we are. Alas all is well. We got the torrential rains and cold winds but no snow. It is a somewhat sunny day out today. Only in the Pacific Northwest!

I am making my way through the Territorial Seed Catalog, trying to decide what to put in the garden this year. My brother-in-law has started a "bunch of seed" in his greenhouse and is going to share. I am excited to see what he has. We are moving the garden this year. My daring husband has taken out a few over grown fruit trees from the orchard, thereby opening up a larger area for my garden. I say MY garden because hubby wants nothing to do with it. I have to beg for the garden every year. So, I am very happy to have a much larger, sunnier location. The soil here is hard pack clay, not very conducive to gardening. I tried the Lasagna method year before and really had good results. I will be using the Lasagna method again this year. I am hoping to get a fence put up to keep out the chickens, the deer and our ding-dang vegetarian dog. It would be my dream to have a quaint white picket fence surrounding my perfectly planned out Kitchen Garden. Suffice it to say, "perfectly" I am an overachiever at but "planned" is a word that gives me panic attacks!

The daffodils have "naturalized" most of the property now. They are everywhere. I am so blessed by this as it means I don't have to stress out about where to plant spring bulbs. It is such a sight to come up the driveway and see their sunny little heads bobbing in the breeze. The kids have kept a constant bouquet of them on the dining table. My youngest, bored with just looking at them, tried pressing the petals in the garlic press. Man that was a mess. I also have a bunch of paper whites scattered about, that weren't here before. Paper whites smell so amazing. I love daffodils so much I dug a bunch and took them with me when we moved the last time. Then, dug them back up when we moved back here. It's not as though there weren't any here to come back to. They are everywhere.

There are lots of building projects to finish up. The "Honey Do" list is getting longer every day. The shop needs to be enclosed. The woodshed needs built. The R.V. shed needs gutters. The greenhouse is without a door. Our guest cottage/studio/workout room needs a heater. Inside the house, things need finished; molding in bedroom, caulking around the tub, paint here and there, tile the entry, drywall extra bedroom and in what ever spare time can be had, reconfigure the laundry room. I need Martha and here crew to come in here a spruce this place up. Wonder if she would........

I am busily (sorta) preparing (well, maybe) for the first Sanity Savers meeting. This group is the brain child of my friend Miriam. Sanity Savers mission is to provide a little piece of sanity to women with children at home. I am the guest speaker and slightly nervous. My lovely friend Miriam (thank you) got me this "gig". My first speaking engagement ever! I am going to share about Investment Cooking. What I am going to share is still a mystery to me, but who knows it might come to me still. (Don't panic Miriam. I work well under pressure! HAHAHA! ) I love the idea of Investment Cooking and have used it with great success in the past. I am currently not employing a well stocked pantry and thus not investing in my cooking. It might prove helpful if I was practicing what I am about to preach.

Spring Break is over for us on Tuesday. With that comes the rush back to the daily grind. I am in charge of two field trips for ACE. There are a few birthday parties to attend. I am a helper for a Creative Memories Workshop. I have a few more chicks coming in this next week. I am going to enjoy these last few days of spring break while they last.......