Spring Begins

Yep, that's what the calendar says.  There needs to be a caveat printed under that notation on all calendars hanging in northern Minnesota homes.  

We have had some melting from our most recent snowfall, but there's still plenty of whiteness out there.  Overnight temps are registering in the low 20s.  Two more weeks until I can start the first of my garden seedlings inside under lights.  Spring is coming.  We're just a little slower (okay, maybe a lot) than most other places.

I shouldn't have talked about finishing the top to my new quilt that's been in progress for so long.  I haven't managed to work on it since then. 

I've been doing some touch-up painting in the kitchen.  You can tell by the yellow splotches on my hands.  Papa Pea and I did a little wood working constructing a wooden tray I've been wanting for some time.  Little things are getting done, it's just that a day's time is never long enough.  Never, ever, ever.

Looking ahead to this week, we're trying to decide on the best day for a trip to the big city.  We need to pick up a new garden cart we ordered.  Our old one has served us well, hauling untold tons of various materials and doing service as a make-shift hand truck to move heavy, heavy objects for many years.  The poor old thing has been on its last legs (wheels?) for a couple of years and is now beyond repair so we've come to the point of having to replace it.  We chose to not pay the shipping on this new one but rather to pick it up.  Sure, a trip to the big city is expensive in itself, but any time we go we never fail to come home without the back of the truck filled to the brim . . . with wine from the discount liquor store, if nothing else.  (Truth to tell, it's more likely a bulk box of toilet paper and kleenex and miscellaneous building materials.)

Our supply of food from last year's garden is holding out.  Mostly.  We are almost out of potatoes (didn't get as big a yield as usual) and carrots.  Papa Pea has fed out more to the poultry this winter . . . carrots, beets, cabbage, apples.  Frozen veggies are still plentiful.  I served Brussels sprouts with dinner last night and hubby commented, "Where do you keep finding these Brussels sprouts?  I thought you didn't freeze that many?"  Well, when you rotate serving them with frozen green beans, peas, beets, cauliflower, broccoli and others from the root cellar, I guess they each go a long way.

For our potato crop, for years I've saved and planted the smaller ones from the previous crop.  Haven't purchased new potato sets in I-don't-know-how-long.  But after last year's harvest I decided maybe it was time for some new life to be infused into our potato crop so have on order two new varieties, Red Chieftan and Burbank Russet.

It may still be snowy and cold, but I can't help but be eager to get on with all those outside chores, tasks and new projects.  Spring is in the air . . . or at least in my mind and on the calendar.