“In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt”
Margaret Atwood, Bluebeard’s Egg
The daffodils are pushing up across the front yard and down the back hill. Small delicate blooms and large yellow heads herald new growth and new beginnings. Pat used to show daffodils and the naturized varieties are truly a treat for the eyes.
The forsythia and camellias have also arrived, combined, and even entwined, a splash of color!
On a dirtier note, we decided 2021 is the year for a garden. Lilli hired Watkins Nursery to deliver 15 cubic yards of compost to kick off the endeavor. With a little effort and a Kubota, $500 disappeared into the ground. The result is a new garden 50 feet north-south by 75 feet east-west (notice the lack of metric, archaeology friends).
In the spirit of Jefferson, we’ve planted a little of everything with the hope that some of it will grow. We have purple, red, yellow, white and sweet onion, kennebec and yukon gold potatoes, two varieties of garden peas, horseradish, kale, collards, spinach, chard, and cool weather lettuce. Newly vaccinated friends Emily Jane Murray and Emma Dietrich arrived just in time to help with the planting!
At the beginning of the month we also welcomed six 3-day old leghorn chicks to a new brooder. They’re the first chicks on the farm for about 20 years. Just down the road not five miles, Tyson has a large hatchery. Too bad these chicks don’t know how lucky they are!
To round out the month, Brendan moved the last pile of sticks and pine stumps between the house and road and used the land plane to level the area for drilling next month. We are definitely looking forward to a time when the dominant color is green and not brown, bare earth!
