Celebrate!

[midnightsjane]

Spring is sprung, it's time to celebrate the arrival of green grass, green leaves, and the green weed patch that is my garden..it beckons me, urging me to turn the soil, pull the weeds and the left over patch of kale and collard greens, fast approaching the end of their life cycle, and begin anew. I have begun looking at seed packages, planning and plotting for the new vegetables. This year I'm going to be less eclectic and more practical; I'm only going to plant the things we actually eat a lot of, and that do well. I'm not going to try things like eggplant, or cauliflower, or cabbages..because they all have disappointed me in the past, and/or are cheap and readily available from local farmers. Instead I'm going to concentrate on things like peas, and beans, and cucumbers, and salad greens. I plan to throw a few zucchini seeds on the manure pile, and see if they grow as well as the squash did last year. I'm pretty sure I'll have another crop of squash on the pile, because I didn't harvest all the squash last fall. My garden is small, so I have to keep it simple. I have plans to make it bigger, but that entails digging up more ground, and redoing the fence (which I have to do anyway; the one I put up last year was only meant to be temporary, and it looks it). I'd like to start an herb garden, and put in some asparagus plants, and strawberries. The only limiting factor is time and energy! I am really anxious to get going, but it's still a bit cold to do too much; the soil needs some time to warm up. Soon!

I've been keeping busy, working 2 or 3 shifts a week in CCU, lending a hand out at the farm, trying to pay more attention to my two horses in this shedding season. I spent some time grooming Midnight, and by the end he was about five pounds lighter, and the stall looked like there had been a major blizzard in it. Rochelle has a finer coat, and isn't shedding as much, but they both need attention. Everything I own is going to be covered in horse hair for the next while. :P

We have a big horse show coming up this weekend; it's an FEI Dressage show, so there will be lots of horses from all over. We're really excited to be going; Sera is doing so well in her training, and is more than ready for this. It's going to be a very busy week for everyone. We have to organize the farm work so someone is around to help Nicole bring in the horses etc. All hands on deck, for sure. It doesn't help that poor Nicole is injured; she got thrown off her horse last weekend (the horse reared straight up, and she fell off backward; luckily the horse didn't fall on her!) She has a couple of cracked ribs, and is very sore. But she's a trooper, just keeps on going. We horse people are tough.

Happy Easter to everyone who celebrates it!