Spring at Last!

We have leaves.

We had daffodils!

We had tulips!

We've got iris growing and tomato plants ready to be transplanted and baby corn plants and squashes and pumpkins, all babies, just coming to life in this new creature we've dubbed "sunshine"! And with sunshine comes warmth.

Hooray for warmth!

There's a lot of stuff going on here right now. I'm utilizing my middle-of-the-night writing time for storytelling, but at seven A.M. I switch gears. Get my young friends off to school, clean up the kitchen, and then on to some spring things...

Cleaning water gardens is the least favorite.... we're in Northeast Woodlands. If you don't mow it or till it, a forest will grow, so the water gardens all fill with leaves in fall. Once spring comes I pump out the water.... then rake out the debris (I am not going to tell you what I find in the debris, but let me say that it's not always JUST LEAVES....) So once that's done, I refill with water... and start the fountains... and weed the gardens around them and trim the plants and then I repeat this two more times because we've got three water gardens in the front yard.

And I love them! They encourage all kinds of frogs and toads to make our yard their home... and birds, too!

Logan is a frog/toad lover like me.... I remember when Taylor was little (one of my first daycare babies, she's almost 17 now) she came over one evening and filled buckets with toads, hopping around the gardens and the sidewalks, feasting on bugs beneath the outside lights.

It was the coolest thing! And then of course we let them all go... because we want them to have lots and lots of frog/toad babies!

Bunting.

Before Memorial Day the bunting must go up. Half the reason I had porch rails installed years ago was to hang bunting!

Yes.

I love bunting. I love old houses with patriotic bunting.

I'm such a dork!

Farm prep time without a greenhouse:  Summer squash and zucchini plants started:

And then tomatoes:

We order tiny plants and then transplant them into trays or sleds.... and then we plant them this week  on the farm. That cuts our costs by a lot and we turn our display yard into an interim nursery.

Sweet pepper plants and corn plugs! This way we start the corn up front and then plant it out back this week.... and we keep doing this.

The pumpkin seeds are in trays too, they're about to pop and they'll go in next week... and then the major planting goes for the next three weeks, plot by plot.

This is the antique wagon I'm hoping to dress up this summer so folks can use it for a photo op by September. We'll see if I'm good enough to create a fun wagon, but just that frame and those wheels makes me happy!
It's about 12 feet long, so it's a big-based wagon and those wheels are to-die-for. I was thinking red and yellow for the wheels.... and a rustic bed for the wagon, to display pumpkins and flowers and decoratives..... and make folks smile!

Okay, that's it from here.... we don't do much cooking right now, but Lacey is making chicken scampi tonight.... and that's some mighty good stuff!

I'm in North Carolina for the next two days, helping with grandkids and seeing them dance/play/dance.

I am so blessed!

And this is the latest Ruthy re-release for Kindle or paperback:

A beautiful story of the most unlikely match... that becomes quite likely. Link to "More Than a Promise

Wishing you all the most beautiful of Memorial Day weekends, the blessings of faith, hope and love and the gratitude for all who have served.... and saved us from oppression and tyranny. May God bless our troops... and our country.