It's time to get growing

March 1st is the magic date for peas to go into the ground around here. Today Charlie put the first row of Wando peas in the ground. He also finally removed the tomato stakes and put them in new rows. We tossed some onion sets into the ground yesterday for green onions. I would have helped more outside today, but I'm a little under the weather with a respitory evil.

We also started flats of leeks - Giant Musselburgh, and tomatoes - Black Prince, Cherokee Purple, Kentucky Beefsteak, Principe Borghese, Roma, Spears Tennessee Green and Stupice, and peppers - Alma Paprika, Ancho/Poblano San Luis and Golden Marconi.

In the ground and growing already are winter-overed shallots and garlic.

I'm counting down the days until our last frost date.

Catching my breath

I've been up to my armpits with work (feeling under the weather hasn't helped either) and I'm sorry if you've been looking for farm updates or other things of interest. I've just been too overwhelmed with life in general to write a word.

In the middle of re-enrollments, faculty contracts, state inspections, testing, new student recruitment and all the other fun things that have been coming my way (like interviews for new jobs where I'm not the boss of everything...) I've had one excessively odd and fun job - the hunt for Sandy the Hamster. I'm not sure if I've mentioned Sandy before. She is Monkey's class hamster. She comes to stay at our house every school holiday and we are very fond of the fat little rodent.

Sandy has developed a rather annoying habit of late. She's become a successful escape artist. On past occasions it's been easy to track her. She leaves gaudy little piles of beads and seeds behind toilets or shelves. On her last escape at school (she doesn't escape at our house) I found her dozing behind a toilet plunger with a hoard of dried beans she pilfered from one of the pre-school rooms.

Sandy's latest escape has left us a little dumbfounded and frustrated. The teachers and students have been looking for her daily. She's managed to elude our searches. She escaped last Tuesday and we are saddened (no really, there has been weeping from the 4 year old quarter) that she's still on the loose. At first we found her normal piles of beads and a few marbles, not to mention hamster poop... But the trail grew cold last week and we thought all was lost. In our search for Sandy we've found lots of things we thought lost and gone forever, but no fat hamster.

On a more cheerful note, today I found a sign that she's been hanging out in one of the preschool rooms (a nice tidy pile of hamster poop and colored rice behind the math shelf). So my search continues with new zest; a welcome change from being chained to my desk. I am the official Montessori Hamster Hunter. I'll keep you posted.

Waiting for weather

As the person "in charge" at school I worry when a parent who happens to a meteorologist (married to a meteorologist) stops by my office and cheerfully says, "See you Monday!". That was yesterday. Today I'm waiting for a big ol' winter storm to arrive. The school day has been cancelled because the threat of a storm exists.

I grew up in the Midwest. Winter was the time for snow and ice. Here, in the South, winter weather is a major news event and all things shut down before the first flake falls. All schools are closed in anticipation of a storm. I will admit that I've seen the radar and listened to reports and this storm is big. Flights were cancelled in anticipation yesterday. The forecast is several inches of snow, followed by ice. Road crews, power crews and kids with sleds are ready. I'll keep you posted.

Oh and the bad thing about being the principal - it may be a snow day, but I still have to get up at 5:00 to check weather, cancel school and make sure everyone knows about it. Being the boss is not such fun...