We have had a very nice extended spring around here. I could do without the wind though. It tends to create havok on most things. I'm having to learn all over again the types of landscaping that will work around here. Where as before at my old house, I could pretty much plant what I wanted as long as it was for the zone we lived in. Now I have to plant according to whether it can withstand extended lengths of time of 20-30 mph wind! It is definately a challenge to create beautiful landscape with this problems. Some days I feel like giving up and not have beautiful plants to enjoy. Then I'll gain a renewed vigor and take on the challege again. I think I may be gaining some ground as my gardens are slowly increasing in size and beauty.

My little hoop house I previously wrote about was a bust. Yes, the wind. The lasagne part is wonderful. I may have to keep adding these as time and supplies allow. I'll will continue to work on the hoop house though. Actually, the plastic may have suvived. There seems to have been a weakening in the plastic along a crease which started to tear, and once the wind got hold, well, end of plastic. The seeds underneath contined to sprout despite my efforts to keep plastic over them and I am know harvesting the lettuce. This fall, the hoop house will be the site of my garlic patch.

We are expectantly awaiting the arrival of calves and kids. There should be some calves very soon and the kids will be coming along in about 5 weeks or so. I really can't wait for all of this. New babies are do cute! I guess I will have to wait for the Lord's timing. Right now we have Flip-FLop and her eleven ducklings marching around the farmyard. She hatched them herself in our hayloft. We also have turkeys and chickens we are raising for the freezer. Momma turkey is sitting on a nest of more eggs. We'll see if she can do a better job of hatching out eggs than we are. We stink at hatching turkey eggs. We started with 16 eggs and only hatched three. All but one were fertile and fully developed, but they just didn't hatch out. Very sad actually. The should be hatching within the next week we think.

My vegetable garden is shaping up. I've got several different varieties of onions I planted from onion plants and not sets. I also have a tray I started from seed, which I've never done either before. I've always used onion sets with minimal success. I think that might be a daylight issue and them selling the wrong types for our area. I've never had success with sets. So we'll see how these plants do. I made sure they were the right type for our area.

My corn, carrots, lettuce, spinach, kohlrabi, and cauliflower are growing nicely. I planted my squash last weekend and I hope to get my melon seed in Sunday and maybe actually finish all the planting, but we'll see. It will be hot and glorious day. The squash varieties are yellow, zucchini, buttercup, butternut, blue hubbard, warty pumpkin, and two types of delicata. Sweet potatoes are mostly in. I still have a tray of slips I'm rooting. Why do I buy these? They are so easy to make your self. I did buy one bunch of slips just in case the ones I am rooting don't work out. These are rooting just fine and are very robust so far. I have tomatoes starting from seed as well as cabbage. My garden will be full! If you live locally, I may have extra for sale. I hope to have a small vegetable stand started this year.

As soon as I gather my oils together, I will be experimenting with making soap of the goat milk variety. I'm excited about this, but I also have been procrastinating gather my supplies. So much I want to do, so little time! I keep trying to set a week when it would be great to try thism but I make excuses as to why I don't start, like, after the conference I've been planning, after the garden is planted, after I mulch perennial gardens, after VBS......I need to just put my foot down, order the rest of what I need and just do it!

All in all, I have a busy season ahead of me and Lord willing, it will be a wonderful season. I'm imaging the garden bursting with produce, flowers blooming, maybe even picking a few pieces of first fruit off our fruit trees and I do plan on spending some time in the pool. God is so good and full of rich blessings for those who love Him.