Reprieve

Saturday brought us sunny and mid-fifties, finally. The thing about this winter is not that it's lasted into April, but that it's been so continuous. Most winters, we get a break. A warm spell, a quick thaw. Not this time, buster. This cold weather has been Puritanically stubborn.
So catching a break, as we did Saturday, was marvelous. Patrick and I cautiously decided that since we were going to be home all day, and outside, it was okay to let the chickens range. So range they did, and happily.

They walked out the hole in their fence and stopped to chow down for about twenty minutes straight, without pausing or looking around or walking, and that was wonderful to see. 

Patrick spent his day doing the brakes on his car, and I spent the day getting one of my punch list items crossed off. Remember those bricks I laid last spring? Of course you do. Well, I never got around to filling in the cracks between with sand, like I was supposed to, so weeds aplenty grew in and around everything. I spent Saturday grubbing them out, all of them, and pouring and sweeping and tamping sand. Much better. 

I also spent time planting: carrots, and beets. I also have peas, spinach, shallots, scallions, radishes, kale, mizuna, and a few other cold-weather crops in. Plus, arugula seedlings in the cold frame. This spring, I have hoed snow off the garden in order to plant. This spring, I have worn long underwear while planting, while tying trellis, while digging. It has been stubborn, but today I checked the ten day forecast, and after Wednesday it looks like we're finally about to be released into the land of warmth. Pete will be happy for that, for he has developed a love of hunting the small rodents which have colonized the hugelkultur beds I made last spring...

While it continues to be cold and rainy/snowy Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, I am going to work on the bathroom. It is ready to be made splendid, and I am ready to get it there.

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