Ready for Spring

We got back on Saturday night from Spring Break in California.  There, Spring (as my dad says) "is coming to an end and we're ready for warm weather."  It never ceases to amaze me how it looks when we get off the plane there in the Spring  after/during a long winter at home.  My cones are on immediate overload as the vastness of the green seems to glow.  It is absolutely beautiful.  So as I got on the plane to head back I was wondering how much change toward spring we'd had at home.

Though it was a cold winter and it seemed to start early, we had pockets of nice days and Brian and I got a lot of prep work done in the yard very early this year.  The day before we left for CA we quickly popped peas and radishes in the ground, not wanting to miss our window while we were gone.  We were excited to get home and see if anything had started.  We got off the plane and everything still seemed very grey.  Rather disappointing.  But once we started to look, you could see all kinds of signs of life.  Daffodils and crocus' blooming, the leaves just about to spread open on many of the trees, the grass is even getting incredibly green (reminiscent of what we just saw in the west).  Our own beautiful spring is just beginning!

We managed to live from May through about October last year on all of our own produce (except fruit and onions).  So we expanded our varieties of items for this years garden even more and included lots of new things.  Sunday morning, we put 90 onion seeds in containers in the basement as well as 3 different varieties of tomatoes.  Brian has rigged up a self-watering system for the starts this year, so it should be relatively painless.  We're about a month away from the majority of the planting outside, but we're raring to go.  No peas yet, but we do have baby radish sprouts.  Our next project is to get the lettuce's set up, but this year that requires building a raised bed.  We're using some large old floor boards from the barn (reuse). :)

It's all a matter of perspective (and location)  Spring is just beginning here and I love to watch every step of it.