Thursday, March 19, 2009

spring is (begrudgingly) coming!

there has been a flurry of activity around our little homestead in the last weeks, preparing for the inevitable and anxiously awaited event of SPRING! we know it's coming, and have seen signs of the impending death of this long and cold winter. some of the things that we have observed are:

* robins
* mourning doves
* MUD!
* a dwindling wood pile
* crocus blooming
* daffodil blooms
* perennial plants awakening

there are still several projects that i was hoping to finish (or have Dave finish) here in the house, but it's getting harder and harder to stay inside and do them. Dave is off and running with some of his spring ideas and things to build, and I'm afraid that i might not see him here in the house again until October! (the kitchen is *almost* done, and I've been waiting for those final small, but important things, to be completed before posting some more pictures. in light of the way things have been going, I'll try to get some pictures up of where we are now. very soon.)

our latest project is the high tunnel. after looking into buying one already made, and experiencing profound sticker shock, Dave decided we could easily build one ourselves. the size is approximately 20' X 12', and will be big enough to house many tomato plants and other stuff, too. we're still on our learning curve about this newest venture, and we'll be learning as we're going. a very helpful book that we'll be gleaning TONS of information from is Four Season Harvest, by Eliot Coleman. he and his wife, Barbara, have successfully grown a multitude of things in their high tunnel nearly year round. while that sounds a bit unrealistic ambitious for us in our first year, we're enthusiastically going to give it our best shot!




here we have our little helpers: a contrast in personalities! baby B is anxious to get outside, notwithstanding the fact that she has no pants on! B just knows that her beloved Dada and brother are out there, and she doesn't want to miss one thing!








A, on the other hand, is perfectly content to stay inside, with her faithful companion Phoebe. like i always say: "you can't go wrong with a warm quilt and a good book!"





Dave and G have made good progress with the hoops for the high tunnel, and just as they are nearly done, the electric company shows up to cut down our 2 trees. never mind that I've been repeatedly calling them for over 6 months! it just goes to show what a well placed phone call can do... this little knoll gets wonderful sunshine, and we plan on planting our little orchard here. we haven't made the final decision on what varieties of trees we want, but we plan on planting 4 apple and 2 peach trees that we'll buy from Miller Nurseries.


the electric company makes short work of the 2 trees (causing me to wonder what took them so long to come, anyway?) and while Dave gets right to work hauling away the carcasses...

...A and B are working at finishing up the high tunnel.

many hands make light work!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

My mom always said that outside work and the barn always seemed to take priority over the house, especially if my Dad had anything to say about it.

Nater likes to be where everyone else is too. He will often try to go out without pants just like B

Wanda..... said...

It's nice that your little girls have each other to "work" with!!! :)

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