Rain!

You know that spring has sprung when the rains begin. You know the old rhyme; "April showers bring May flowers." But, these past two years or so, our spring rains have been sparse. Thunderstorms rolled in this morning, and now we're getting a good soaking. We had some rains over the weekend, too. We are cautiously optimistic that this drought we've been having is breaking.

Too late for my little shrubs, though. I bought three last summer that purported to bloom throughout the season. I bought them late, when they were on sale, planted them, and then the rains stopped. I mean STOPPED. We got no measurable moisture until some snow in January. I didn't expect them to survive, especially since, after the school year started, I was a horrible gardener and didn't water regularly. I will pay for it this spring, when I buy more of these shrubs at full price. (Which, at our local garden store, was higher than that price quoted on the link page!)

I also plan to plant some new trees this spring. Our tree-cutting work of a few weeks ago left us with the realization that we've cut far more than we've planted. I'm looking at blue spruce, white pine and sugar maples. And maybe a plum or two. I have seriously considered replacing ALL our apple trees with peach trees. Our little orchard is sadly neglected, with those apples getting very little pruning, and almost no spraying. It always seems that, when I have time to spray, it's predicted to rain the next day or so, so I hold off. Of course, with the drought I mentioned, I should probably spray; that would ensure rain! But I don't. And our apple harvest shows it. Granted, peach trees only make it 3-5 years here, but, if I replace an apple a year with a peach, we'll have a steady supply and less pruning/spraying. (No, I don't spray peaches, either. But the fruit harvested in much better than unsprayed apples) This is the peach variety I buy. It grows well in our yard, and the fruits are the large, running-down-your-arm-with-juice type that make the taste buds celebrate.

So I started talking about rain and ended up with juicy peaches. See the connection?

Spring, Actually

I've been seeing these fly over lately. I actually saw some on the ground about a month ago.



I love cranes. I was having a particularly rough late winter day about 20 years ago, and I prayed one of those desperate "Dear God, HELP!" prayers. I actually said, "Show me some sign that something good is coming." I walked out of the house a short while later and heard the beautiful call of a flock of sandhill cranes flying right over my house. I didn't know what they were, but I found out, and I learned that, although they themselves are not endangered, they can be used as foster parents for the chicks of whooping cranes, which are. They seem to fly over our area early in spring, serving as one of my harbingers of gardening season.

Speaking of whooping cranes, I was driving past some large farm fields last week, and saw what I thought were swans sitting in one. They were white birds with long necks, so I slowed down to get a better look. One stood up, and I realized they were cranes. I was still driving past, so I didn't get a terrifically clear view, but I am reasonably certain they were whoopers.



It was a small thrill for me to see them. One of their migration routes is right over our area, and we are about 2 hours south of the International Crane Foundation in Baraboo, WI. I read an article about a news outlet that ran video of what they thought was a whooping crane, and they did say they were wrong, that there is a sandhill crane that is lighter than normal. But it has a red head, like the sandhill, and these birds had black on their heads. So they were whooping cranes. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

Yeah. A crane geek. -sheesh- (Not to mention champeen-run-on-sentence-writer!!)

Last picture for you. I have been looking out my window for weeks now, and, suddenly, yesterday, I saw this.



Of course, that's not quite the view from my window. I grabbed a camera, ran out, and got down on the ground for this shot. I'm kinda proud of that shot. It may appear at the fair this summer.

But for now, I'm going to enjoy spring. I think I'll finally be able to get in the garden this weekend. If so, asparagus will be planted!! And lettuces. And whatever "cold weather veggies" the local garden shop meant when they put that sign up out front. I'll stop by on my way home, see what I'll have to plant tomorrow, and let you know then!

Easter Eggs

Laid for me today by my hens. Thank you, ladies.

Spring Break

This week is Spring Break. We've been relaxing on a warm Southern beach, enjoying some time off.

No. Strike that.

We've been working busily on and off our farm. Off the farm, we bought a "new" garden tractor and a "new" car. Both were desperately needed, and are welcome expenditures.

On the farm, we've been cutting 3 years' worth of dead and downed wood. Scheduling, illness, and just plain denial have kept us from this. But finally, finally, it is getting done. I'll share some photos with a smack upside my head. I should have taken a Before picture so you could see how wonderful our pasture looks right now in an After shot. The tree line is clear of dead things, low-hanging branches, which endanger critters and humans alike, are gone, and it almost looks like we care about this place.

But I didn't. So please just enjoy these shots of hard work being done. (The young man in the photos is a Boyfriend. Scary times.)

Saturday Farm Report, And So it Begins Edition

I covered the garden with a tarp today. And the compost pile. Just 30 more days, and I will be able to move compost to the garden and plant asparagus and lettuces.

Rain

So, three days after I tell you we need some good precipitation, we get it. Last night we started getting rain. It was a little scary. There was a roaring sound, and rain was hitting the window. Now, that had happened here about 10 years ago. At the time, I went to the window to see what was happening. I saw sheets of water. The next morning, we found that the trees on our north boundary line had been twisted off at the tops! A tornado or some twirling wind phenomenon had gone along the tops of the trees and broken them off. I was concerned that that was happening again, but no twisted trees this morning!

The rain has been pretty steady all day. Midway through my history class this afternoon, I stopped my lecture to look our the window. Rain, rain, rain. It is a mess, but a happy mess. The ground is thawing and there is more and more mud by the minute. It was almost 50 degrees today. True to form, it will be down to 35 or so tomorrow. Snow is expected. Such is life in northern Illinois.

I got a sad letter yesterday. The local bovine veterinarian is paring down his practice, letting go a second vet and a secretary who had been with him for years and years. He'll still be practicing, God willing, for many years. He's the only bovine vet around! (And, yes, I know we have no cows here, but his practice includes sheep, goats and pigs. The other large animal vets around here limit their practice to horses.) So I think I'll have to get a calf this spring, to raise for beef, and to keep him in business~!

Saturday Farm Report

We had snow this week. Not enough to cover the grass, but, snow. We really need a big ole storm. I know it wouldn't be popular, but it's looking like last year's drought is continuing. We really need some moisture.

Jay and the girls are here this weekend. Justice is off camping with the Royal Rangers. We'll be doing some shopping and some other "girl things" later today.

The farm looks awful this winter. Recent windstorms have added some fallen trees to the already raggedy look we've adopted. It's been too cold to deal with those, even if John was home to do so. We're really looking forward to spring break, when he'll take time off, too, and we'll work on the yard a bit.

The chickens still haven't recovered from the raccoon carnage. The 5 of them are laying about 5 eggs a week. It hasn't helped that our area has been in the icebox for the past 10 days, or that their feed seems to look a bit different than usual. All these factors are forcing us to -gasp- buy store eggs. We really don't like to do that.

But we've been seeing waterfowl flying north. That's a good sign.