Spring Has Sprung!

Good-bye Winter. Hello Spring!
... and not a moment too soon.
Enjoy these photos of spring blooms around our farm.

I agree with Joe, this spring will be like Christmas. All of the plants that were dormant when we arrived in October are waking up and showing us who they are (and in some cases, surprising us that they are still alive!). One of the first blooms to appear in the garden was the Japonica (a.k.a. flowering quince). We were excited to be able to identify this previously unknown jumble of bare branches. I've already looked up recipes for quince jelly.

The narcissus was another early (and fragrant!) bloomer.

Although we lost one peach tree in last week's storm (storm details are in yesterday's entry), this remaining tree is promising to provide us with plenty of peaches for chutneys, salsas, ice cream, and fresh eating.

These snow bells are growing under the grape trellis. I especially like the green dots on the tips of their petals.

Daffodils, popped up everywhere. Like these yellow blooms in the garden...

...And these big fluffy white daffodils outside the kitchen

...And this bi-colored bloom in the front yard.

The garlic that we planted February has started to grow. The garlic patch is my happy place. It is so reassuring to know that it is already in the ground and its slim green leaves are growing every day. Especially since we have not yet been able to plow the rest of the garden due to rain and one very large fallen tree.

All in all, life is good! The skies are blue, the birds are singing, and I haven't had to wear long underwear for a couple of weeks! Happy first day of Spring!

Catching Up... With The Joneses

We know!
You can't keep up with the Joneses,
if the Joneses don't keep up their blog.
We are sorry. We could make excuses
(we were without internet access, we lost our media reader,
when we get home at night we are exhausted...).
But instead, lets just catch up and we will try to up date more frequently.

For the month of January (Yes its been that long- even longer!), we house sat for Ben and Kristen, while they and their two daughters were on vacation in Costa Rica. We were cozy, with us and four dogs (their three, plus Foxie) all living under one roof. One perk was being able to raid the veggie beds at Five Leaves Farm. Here is Joe with some yummy veggies he picked by flashlight.

It was cold. Standing water froze and we wore lots of layers, including long underwear and wool socks while we worked on the house.
We finally found our septic tank. It was a barrel buried behind the house. We have a permit for our new system and even selected a company to do the work, which should start in a couple of weeks.
We have been removing the damaged drywall. In the parlor there were tongue and groove boards behind the drywall. Surprise!
With the help of our friends Julie and Gil, we were able to remove the drywall without damaging the wood. Julie and Gil also helped us move our large farm sink and hulking wood stove out of the kitchen. (Thank You!)
We had our well dug. The large trucks used to do the work got stuck in the mud every few feet on the way in through the goat yard. It took half a day just to get the rig into place! But once they started drilling all went smoothly. We have about 10 gallons per minute at 320 feet deep. (This is great for Cedar Creek!)
Our levee sprung a leak after the beavers moved into our pond. We are currently up to three leaks, though they have slowed down a bit since this photo was taken.
Since it has been raining, the creek that runs through our property is flowing again.
Last Saturday, we dodged a tornado that passed by a mile from here. We had golf ball-sized hail, which dented vehicles and broke some windows. Most impressive was the large pecan tree that fell into our garden. It took out several smaller trees, including a peach that was in full bloom, a few fig trees and the almond tree that was supporting my hammock.
It also landed on Joe's old pickup, which was parked in the garden. Here is a picture, with Joe and Foxie for scale.
The weight of the tree made the truck a low rider and pulled the bed away from the cab.
After half a day of cutting up the part of the tree that was on the the truck, we were able to drive out from under the tree.
Amazingly, the truck was ok. The bed of the truck was banged up. Here is a picture of Joe showing off the tank's new dent. The tank ran like ... well, like a tank, when we took it for a ride through the mud and the forest later that day. The tailgate fell off and fun was had by all.

There is another group of thunderstorms coming through this afternoon, so I'm off to batten down the hatches and make sure the truck is not parked under any trees! I'll leave you with a picture of a gorgeous sunset that was taken at Ben and Kristen's in January. We'll update again soon. No really... we mean it... promise... just check back, ok. Cheers!