How life should be

It is much more satisfying to go to bed physically exhausted than mentally and emotionally exhausted. I collapsed into bed last night, sore and happy. I spent the day in the garden. I finally got to weed and mulch three aisles that were out of control. That took most of the morning and my compost bin is filled with the weeds.

I despise untidiness in the garden. I love overabundant chaos, but the designer in me needs tidy aisles for plants to spill over. I prepared the remaining unplanted beds. I also planted roma beans, haricot verts, yellow wax beans, okra, crooked neck yellow squash and two types of zucchini (not to mention dozens of sunflowers and marigolds). I wish I had planted them two weeks ago, but my time was not under my control.

More cutting flowers and herb plants will go in this afternoon. I also h0pe to get the watermelon plants, pumpkin and vining squash in the ground today.

We've started planning the rebuilding of the greenhouse. This time instead of a kit, we are going to build it from scratch. We found a nice-looking design a couple of weeks ago. The materials should cost around the same as the kit Charlie got me for Christmas and it should be sturdier (besides, we can adjust it to suit our needs). I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we'll have time to build it before the end of summer. I want tomatoes through the fall. I want lettuce all winter. I want my greenhouse back!

Agatha Grunker is feeling much better. Her discomfort doesn't seem to have taught her anything. I caught her trying to find a way into the chicken house yesterday. She's a naughty goat.

Return to the land of the living

The last day of school was last Friday. I'm beginning to feel like a real person again. I've had time to drink coffee and linger in the garden in the morning. Feeding the animals is a time to relish, not to hurry. I also have time to plan for the market on Saturday. I'll be cutting flowers, pulling onions, clipping herbs and cleaning eggs on Friday instead of Saturday morning.

Agatha Grunker got her little goat-self into the chicken coop on Sunday and gorged herself on layer pellets. It's not an understatement to say that she's feeling well under the weather. She has perked up a little today. I'm limiting food to a nice hay and water. Keep your fingers crossed. I think she'll be o.k. in a day or two.

A weekend of accomplishments, but don't thank the goats

This was a weekend of projects. Lots of projects were completed, and my aching back is proof. The garden is tidy. Tidy rows of seeds have been planted. The potato rows have been covered in layers of straw and dirt. The aisles have been weeded and mulched. Plants that weathered our last freeze (and most did it quite well) have been mulched and fed. The survivors of the great greenhouse destruction are lined out in a sheltered spot hardening off. Bare spots in the yard have been seeded.

While I struggled to bring order to the garden, Charlie wielded hammer and saw to build a second small pen for the poultry (that makes two) and build two new small houses. We now have room for the ducklings, goslings and the chicks. Everyone except the keets and Lazarus are now outside.

The goats tried to help, but really just got in Charlie's way. Charlie cursed. A word of advice - don't try to build with goats. Dulcinea was fascinated by the tape measure and managed to pull it out and drag it around. Her attention then focused on power cords. Agatha helped Charlie by picking up nails and tools, and knocking down boards. She took to hanging out inside the new houses. The goats were grounded. The girls ended up cloistered in their pen for a while, which meant they got in my way while I cleaned out the winter's deep litter in their shed. We finished up yesterday tired and dirty and smelling of goat. Good times, good times.

OK, now it's spring

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it is now spring. We spent the past weekend camping in Georgia. While the nights were chilly, the weather was warmer (and the pollen much worse).

While the cat's away, the mice (or in our case, chickens) will play. Several of the uppity chickens have been jumping over a section of fence into the garden and munched on the cabbage and radishes. I'm not too happy. There's going to be a lot of wing clipping this weekend and a second little pen built along that lower section of fence to block all entry to the garden.

What are they? And why are they so messy???

The ducklings and goslings have outgrown their brooder, so yesterday they went to live in their own pen. Agatha Grunker and Dulcinea were intrigued by them. The nights are finally warm enough for them. Soon the chicks will move out to the second little pen and I'll have my studio to myself again.

Oh, and in a sure sign of spring ~ the asparagus is poking out of the ground!

Goats do smile!

Agatha Grunker and everyone else seems to have weathered the storm much better than the greenhouse (we're checking with the manufacturer and insurance to see what we can do to replace it). A few branches are down in the pasture and one metal panel was peeled back from the chicken house roof like a banana, but no one seems worse for the weather.

I let the girls out of their shed after the winds died down yesterday evening and they had a nice frolic. They are getting daily brushings to remove their winter shags and have had a spring hoof trim. Vaccinations are next week (they love that...). I think I can hold off on worming, but will keep an eye out as the weather gets warmer.

We may add an additional goat this spring. Nubian or Alpine? Kid or doe? Too many options really. As long as Agatha remains boss, I don't think she'll mind.

It's beginning to look a lot like Easter!

Eggs,

Cupcakes,

Obligatory morning snow storm,

and Agatha Grunker enjoys her new pasture!