A refined palate

Rocks, leaves, grass, dirt, sticks... all things that a one year old loves to eat.  Why do I try to share my food with her?  Or stress about her getting enough fruits and veggies?  All she wants to eat is bird poop from the yard!

She is loving being outside though.  We spent quite a bit of time wandering around, her sampling everything and me trying to convince her to stop doing that.  Finally, she was content to just carry some rocks around.

I have one more spinach sprout.  That's how desperate I am for spring, I'm giving you updates on each measly little spinach plant.  Just one more week, and I think it'll be time to plant some peas!  I'm used to getting things started really early in order to get any kind of harvest at all, so I'm antsy for things to get going.  I feel kind of silly though, since none of the neighbors have even started looking at their garden plots yet.  They probably think I'm crazy, lining up re-purposed 2-liter pop bottles against the fence, and peeking in through the spout everyday. 

Photo by Terry Sohl

I did do a little research on my "chickens".  Turns out they are called ringneck pheasants and they are not native to America.  They somehow got here from China and made themselves right at home.  The females only lay eggs in the spring, and they will lay up to 20, then sit until they hatch.  Their life expectancy is only 10-20 months, perhaps due to the fact that humans like to shoot them and eat them.  So, they might not be the best laying hens to have around.  I don't really want 200 fertilized eggs in April, and then none the rest of the year.  Besides, it sounds like they need all the baby chicks they can get!

Spring, is it really here?

I love spring, when 44 degrees feels like t-shirt weather.  It feels so nice out, I just had to get outside for a bit today.  My winter sowing experiment has at least yielded a few sprouts.  Apparently, mustard greens are the hardiest of the seeds I planted, with one little spinach sprout following after.  It gives me hope for my other seeds at least.  The kids and I played in the dirt today a bit, planting some lettuce and carrots.  They love to garden and their eyes lit up when I pulled out their garden bags from last year.  They got their own hand tools for Easter and somehow, they didn't all get lost.  Their gloves are a different story. 

mustard greens

The wonderful weather inspired me to take a stroll with the baby, something that hasn't happened since the fall.  Not too many other signs of spring around.  There are still little piles of snow here and there and lots of mud.  I did see some plants pushing up through the mud.  Maybe spring really is here to stay.  This is my first spring in this area, so I really don't know what to expect.  Everyone here makes it sound like spring is pretty tough.  I don't think they know what "tough" is.  My hometown got another winter storm yesterday, and they still have a few feet of snow in the yard.  If this is tough, I'll take it.

I wasn't quick enough to catch a picture of a wild rooster that was in the neighbors garden.  He flew up on top of her house and ran out of sight.  He and another rooster or two hang out in the pine tree in the yard.  I've seen a bunch of hens hiding out under a neighbors pine tree, under the low hanging branches.  They sure make a racket when they take off.  I wondered out loud to my husband if they would start laying eggs anytime soon.  We can't keep any chickens here, since we're renting, so I thought maybe I'd "domesticate" the wild chickens that are everywhere.  When he finished looking at me like I was crazy, he decided it is probably illegal.  I should look into it I suppose.  Wouldn't that be a fun way to keep backyard chickens?

Snowy weekend and a suprise visitor

I'm back from a tiring weekend at my mom's house.  I agreed to watch two of my sister's children over the weekend, but weather made it impossible for her to bring them to me, so she took them to my mom's house, where I also went.  However, being at my mom's house, I end up watching even more children.  So, including mine, I watched 7 children, ages 8 and under during the day - only 5 at night.  They didn't sleep well.  Who does at a slumber party?  My sister also failed to mention that her boys wake up by 6:30 am.  I am not used to that. 

So, I am tired and in denial of needing to get into a new week.  Meal planning?  Who needs it?  Actually, I planned on sloppy joes, but I seem to be out of burger.  Which is unheard of in our family.  My mom sneaks burger into our freezers because they have so much.  I guess she's been distracted, or I moved too far away.  I am planning a full on assault of my chest freezer as soon as the baby goes down for her nap.  If I don't find some lonely package of burger, I'm bound to find something else that wants to be dinner, right?

While at the ranch, we looked out the kitchen window and saw...

a baby moose!  I realize he seems large, but he's not quite a year old.  He (I say he because he seems like a he, not because I actually know...it's too fuzzy down there) and his mother spent last spring and summer by the river that runs through the ranch.  Sometime in the fall, his mom disappeared.  I don't know if someone shot her during hunting season, or if they were somehow separated and she just hasn't found her way back, but he's still here and still alone.  And apparently lonely. 

He is standing in the backyard, surrounded by dogs, children, tractors, horses, people, cars in and out... you name it.  We don't usually see wildlife right here.  We're just too loud.  Yet, there he is, bedding down in "pirates cove" by the creek and wandering through the willows and crab apple trees.  I don't know if he'll survive the winter, he doesn't seem very lively, but I hope he makes it through.  My sister wants to make a pet out of him and I admit, his ears look so fuzzy, I really want play with them. 

The kids also enjoyed a sleigh ride, complete with sledding off the back.  There is a lot of snow right now.  Spring is nowhere in sight, but that didn't stop me from doing some garden planning.

But I definitely did not sit on the swing.