Rubber Pants and Waterproof Boots

By the calendar, Spring is here, and I can feel it.  It's supposed to rain hard tonight, and moderately tomorrow, and I can't wait!  I think this will set off the first green injection.

I planted fava beans today that I started in toilet paper tubes a few wekeks ago.  We learned that trick from "the guy:" some British gardening show that we watched last year via youtube.  We couldn't ever remember his name, so he'll forever be known as "the guy."  Anyway, as I was digging into the soft, muddy soil with my trowel, I kept discovering large chunks like subterranean icebergs.  I hope the favas don't mind, and that the forthcoming deluge this evening will further thaw those frozen strongholds.

I also raked debris and leaves from many of the paths between beds and added that material to the already large compost heap.  On the newly naked soil, I sowed clover, annual ryegrass, and winter rye; all speedy germinators. I like to time these plantings with a sustained period of rain so I don't have to do all the watering work.  When I first woke up this morning, I found myself unable to stay in bed, and could only think of getting outside and getting some dirt under my fingernails, now that it's white winter blanket has been removed. 

Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures to add, as my desktop is under the weather yet again.  I plan on making an update about the trip to Colorado that we took last week with plenty of gorgeous mountain views as soon as my desktop is back in working order. 

On the Fence

Spring seems so close, and yet it's difficult to tell considering the types of Spring we've had in the last few years.  The chickens are back to laying full-time, but the air still stings.  We alternate back and forth between waterproof boots and chipping ice.  The sweet smell of manure is the only thing strong enough to be noticed in this type of air, but that itself is a welcoming signal of the explosive life that's coming.  But everyone's hungry.  We're out of squash, sweet potatoes, soon to be out of white potatoes, and tomatoes are gone to name a few.  We still have fish, 2 chickens, a rabbit, some beef, and loads of garlic, but that doesn't leave us much diversity, or vegetables.  The mice are hungry, because they're back to gnawing what they can find in the hoophouse, or at least I thought they were mice.  I also found what was left of a rabbit- the back paws and spine, along with tufts of fur strewn about just outside the garden fence. 

The picture above is of a (dead) meadow vole.  This unfortunate little one was killed in one of my fancy-pants traps that I wrote about recently.  While I was in the hoophouse today, I saw another one staring right at me, and a much smaller scurrier fleeing the scene which was possibly a baby meadow vole, or an actual field mouse.  We learned today that they can have something like 10 litters a year, can start reproducing at one month of age, and reproduce faster and more than any other mammal on the planet.  They also go through 3-4-year boom/bust cycles.  This doesn't bode well for the coming spring, but I'm not giving up before we even start! 

This Long Winter

Winter is always hard, at least here in this temperate climate.  This winter, however, has been especially hard.  It's been super cold, and the snow pack hasn't melted once.  We've stayed home due to snow many days.  On the upside, it's getting warmer and lighter out, I've head birds singing, and the turkeys have been gobbling in the morning and started to strut.  There are a lot of things we need to do or are working on to get ready for spring.

First of all, I gave up on the hoophouse a while back because mice basically ate everything that was growing.  Now, I'm making efforts to get rid of the mice so I can start planting stuff again.  The temperature has been consistently in the 80's in the daytime in there, and dipping to 20 at night.  We've got onions and lots of greens started, and I'd like to be able to put in there pretty soon not to mention all of the other stuff I want to direct sow in there.  So I bought two new kinds of mouse traps, one is the Intruder, and the other is the Snap-E.  Both of them are made to be no-touch so that the dead mouse can be removed, and then the whole trap can be dunked in soapy water to be cleaned.  I'm guessing that makes them more effective as future mice can't smell the previous ones.  Both traps have a shorter swing than a traditional mouse trap.  I set them on Saturday or Sunday, and as of today, none of them have been sprung.  The piles of droppings that were everywhere a few months ago have started to mold over and it looks like the mice may have moved on since there's not much left to eat. 

the Intruder

Snap-E

Those holes are where the mice dug up the artichoke roots and ate them.

What's left of some kale and mache.

munched tatsoi

the adjoining house has the compost pile.

 The second order of business is that last Sunday, Naomi noticed that Penelope had something weird going on with her eye.  We brought her in for a nice bath to get clean, and her eye was a little foamy and slightly irritated.  We brought her back out, and the chickens started attacking her eye pretty badly.  Then her eye really didn't look good.  So we brought her in until we could call a vet on Monday morning.  It was a little difficult and annoying, but it was fun to spend some time with her.  Naomi took her to a vet on Monday that specializes in birds.  She said it was a good experience, and it's comforting to know that we have a vet in case we need one in the future.  So, she's on antibiotics, which is awful.  It's really hard to get her to take the pills, and doing it the vet way (squeezing her jaw so she opens her mouth and shoving the pill down her throat) just wasn't working out for us.  We're trying to hide the pill in various snacks, but even that's hard.  She's living in the bathtub to make things easy, but it's still hard.  Every time one of us needs to go to the bathroom, she gets all wound up, and taking a shower is a really laborious process.  She'll be in for 10 days total. 

 I'm looking forward to warmer weather, new spring peepies, getting my fingers in the dirt, and the first green things that will be coming soon.  I'm also looking forward to Penelope getting better and back outside where she can enjoy herself rooting around eating stuff and quacking at her chicken friends.  I can't wait to get some fresh air, and be able to walk around without slipping on ice.  Let's keep our fingers crossed!