Sitting in the sun

Sitting in the sun typing, I feel like a cat. The warmth of the sun penetrates me deeply and I feel an overwhelming connection with the universe. The sun and warm temperatures are helping the snow connect with the earth more totally as water. Filling the spaces in the earth for this purpose, the water nourishes the land. We will need it later in the summer when the sun dries up all the water topside.

            We have received our shipment of quail eggs. Tim has fired up the incubator and we will hopefully hatch out the 60 eggs. We plan on building a moving pen for them. They are the tiniest of birds. The eggs are a little bit bigger than that of a robin egg. When they hatch the minute bird is the size of a large bee.

            Our highland cattle are joyously welcoming spring with lots of running and kicking it up, a happy dance indeed. Our new calf, Ferdinand is growing and was spied munching on hay just the other day. The three young ones chase each other in the muddy field. The bull, Veto and our ½ steer, Benji, go head to head, banging quite hard.

            With the hope of spring in the air, I voted today. I encourage everyone to do the same. I feel it is not just a right but a duty. We must actively engage in our world. We only have one life. 

           The laying hens run about the barnyard searching for grass and insects. I never tire of the sight. I do, in fact, tire of seeing them hopping the fences and ripping up my flower gardens. I must remember to shut the coop door in the evening after they have hopped up on the roosts and tucked in for the night. They lay their treasures in spurts and fits. For a couple days I get about 5 or 6 warm brown eggs and then 15 of them the next morning! Tomorrow I will transfer the remaining group of young layers to the back coop to live for the summer. These are my blue/green layers. We call them Lindacaunas, after a friend who gave them to us.  They will lay Easter eggs. The most beautiful shades of blue and green to go with my warm shades of brown eggs.

          More than half of the garden is free of snow now. The mounds of compost are piled high on each bed from work done last fall. Sitting in the sun, waiting for seeds from me. Of course, there are plenty of seeds in the beds probably germinating there in the sun right now. Wildflower seeds, or weed seeds depending on your point of view. In a game we play each year, I try to grow MY seeds while the wildflowers try to grow. Time for the straw to inhibit the wildflowers from growing. Perhaps in a couple weeks I will be able to get into the garden to work.

           In the meantime, I watch for the chives to burst from the ground. The day lilies are already up a couple inches and somewhere under the snow I have some small grape hyacinth waiting. The buds on the trees are straining to remain closed. and the animals on the farm move around stretching their legs from their long winter confinement. Spring is here.