Saturday, April 15, 2017

Yesterday and Today

We had a smattering of rain this morning right around dawn.  It didn't amount to more than making the deck wet, but it was the first moisture we've had in the form of rain (or snow!) in a couple/few weeks.

The good part of not having received much precipitation is that the garden soil is finally drying out.  Yesterday I was able to do a little work in the raised beds.

I cleaned up the bed I'm trying to fill with peppermint in the hopes I might, someday, be able to harvest a year's supply for Papa Pea's daily morning cup of peppermint tea.

I uncovered the bed of rhubarb and comfrey.  Both are showing teeny-tiny shoots of new growth. 

Of course, the blasted quack grass is starting to rear its ugly little green head in several of the raised beds so I dug it out of about three beds leaving the rest for later.

Yesterday we had to move and restack quite a bit of lumber, some of it older and dry, some of it newer and wet.  There were 8, 10, and 12' lengths of both and the wet lumber was Heavy.  (Yes, Heavy with a capital H!)

I also split quite a few bundles of slabwood into small wood for next heating season.

Between all those activities, some muscles got used that are complaining a wee bit today.  (But it's all good, right?)  Not to be too indelicate, but today I'm well aware of the muscles in my (ahem) buttocks (bending in the garden, I'm sure) which got more use than they apparently have all winter.

While working outside most of the day yesterday we got to see four different "V" formations of wild geese winging their way northward.  A sure sign of spring.

As for our domestic geese, we have two females sitting on nests.  Time will tell the results of that.

There's also a female Muscovy duck who has been sitting in a corner of the chicken house, of all places, on a nest of eggs.  When Papa Pea went out for afternoon chores today, he thought he got (maybe, possibly) just the quickest glimpse of a fuzzy yellow head peeking out from beneath her!  If that proves to be true, I'll have pictures to share soon.  Stay tuned.

26 comments:

Sue said...

I hope you do have some ducklings-how cute. And yes, I'll expect (demand!) lots of pics-LOL!
We've been having torrential rains for the past couple of hours. I was unable to sleep-it was pounding so hard on the roof. Like you, I'll take all the moisture I can get right now. We're dry as toast and it's soon time to get out and plant some spring stuff.
Happy Easter, dear lady
Don and I will be feasting on ham and that deadly European Truffle pie we've had stashed in the freezer since our trip to Iowa in January. Yum. And oh no on the hips!
:D

Pioneer Woman at Heart said...

Aw, babies. That would be a nice surprise.

Mama Pea said...

Sue - Happy Easter to you and Don, too, Sweet Sue!

Snow/sleet/rain in the forecast for us the first of this coming week. Oh well, it is spring time in the northland! Here I was all set to experiment with some early seeds poked into the earth under my cold frames. I might maybe should wait until the end of the week at least now.

Enjoy that European Truffle pie!

Mama Pea said...

Kristina - All but one of our geese (and all the ducks) are only a year old and the books say the females often won't sit on eggs until they mature a little so we're thankful the one duck and two geese (NOT the older female!) are seeming to want to be mamas this year.

Rain said...

Happy Easter Mama Pea :))
Oh, I hope we get to see duckling photos!
I chuckled a bit at your pain, I feel terrible... ;)...you can always say your "glutes"...makes it a little more medical that way! My glutes kill me after the first bike ride of the season too, I call it spring "bike butt" syndrome! Actually I did some digging myself, the mud in the driveway and my shoulders are very angry with me today! Some chocolate will fix that right up! :)
Is peppermint easy to grow? Is it a perennial? I've decided I need another shelf in my window because I want to start some cilantro and my oregano. Guess what? Parsley growth!!! It happened overnight! :)

Mama Pea said...

Rain - Happy Bunny Day to you, too, m'dear!

Yes, hopefully, little hatchling pictures will appear this coming week!

Oh, so that's what I'm suffering from . . . glutemus-maximus!

Yep, peppermint or spearmint is easy to grow. It keeps spreading and coming back each year. I'm hoping to fill a whole 4 x 8' bed with it, but my plants didn't spread as much as I thought they would last year.

Yay for the parsley coming up! And do go ahead and put up another window shelf, if you can, 'cause it's such an upper to watch those little seedlings sprout!

Rain said...

I think I'm suffering glutemus-maximus too ha ha ha...though I don't really care too much these days, the comfort food is way too good for me to worry! ;)

Alex said we might already have a shelf cut the size I need, he remembers doing a few of them last year, so I just have to rummage through the wood pile!

Sparkless said...

Our peppermint takes over if we don't wack it back every now and again. Papa Pea must drink a lot of tea to need that much. I know here we have way too much of the stuff.

Mama Pea said...

Hi, Sparkless - Good to hear from you! I know everyone else who plants peppermint has it taking over their yard but that hasn't been the case with mine. Yet. Until I can harvest enough of my own, I buy a bag pound of dried peppermint from our organic co-op and that lasts hubby a year. The stuff is light so you can imagine how big a bag 1 lb. is!

Vera said...

It has not rained here in any good quantity for months now, and already parts of northern France are under water restrictions. As for peppermint ....we have some, but I tend not to harvest it because it grows amongst a jumble of weeds!

Susan said...

Isn't it interesting (as in frustrating) how the first green we see are the weeds? Oh, how I love ducklings! I love them so much I don't dare have a drake around. It's a slippery slope.

Mama Pea said...

Vera - Well, you just have to get out there and rescue your mint from those weeds! ;o) Lack of rain in your part of the world is not a good thing. Hope it doesn't affect your market garden plans for this coming season.

Mama Pea said...

Susan - I agree with you that chicks (adorable that they are) aren't as cute as ducklings. Why is that? Hope you had a good weekend, friend.

Anonymous said...

I am at the point where I hate peppermint. THe wild stuff has spread from my pond area into my garden and through 1/3 of my blueberries. Ugh...

Goatldi said...

Happy to see you are busy as a bee and that things are beginning to hatch around your place. I miss ducklings as my daughter raised bantam call ducks and with several Mama's around we often had a large amount of young ones. I think that ducks are pretty much hands down the most comical avian around.

Mama Pea said...

Ruth - If I were in your shoes, I could learn to hate peppermint, too! :o(

Mama Pea said...

Goatldi - Yep, ducklings are so cute and seem to have more personality than baby chicks, in my opinion.

We're having a day of steady rain so it's good to be inside catching up on desk work. (Just paid bills. Ugh.)

Leigh said...

Sounds like you've had some productive outdoor time. Nice to hear about things making their spring appearance (except the quack grass).

So far I've had no success in growing peppermint, but I would love to. I have spearmint, but when it's dried, it doesn't smell like spearmint, so who knows?

Ducklings are exciting news! Looking forward to hear the whole report.

Goatldi said...

Bills double ugh! But good that you had a day of rest after the bum buster day. I felt your pain yesterday when I was in the big barn and we had a full day of no rain. I think I have reached a point in life where I am no longer able to knock out two barn cleaning days in a row.

Goatldi said...

Leigh is quack grass related to duck tape? 😂

Sandy Livesay said...

Mama Pea,

A HA....getting closer to getting those beds planted. And uncovering those covered for winter is a great sign. I hope you don't have seeds growing from the straw which covered your plants for winter.

Geese flying in are true signs spring is in the air.

I'm excited for you!!!

Hugs,
Sandy

Mama Pea said...

Goatldi - It has a lot of the same qualities. And not in a good way! (By the way, you have a quirky sense of humor. I love it.)

Mama Pea said...

Sandy - I just know I will have seeds growing in my large strawberry patch. And I will not be a happy camper trying to get them all out!

Mama Pea said...

Leigh - That's strange about your spearmint not smelling like spearmint when dried. I actually prefer spearmint over peppermint myself. Do you use yours (that you dry) as tea? And does it have the spearmint flavor? Or not?

Goatldi said...

Why thank you Mama Pea 😊 I am honored you enjoy it. Sense of humor that is.

Mama Pea said...

Goatldi - What we all need more of on a daily basis. Makes even negatives turn into positives!