Hi friends!
I am so serious (or seriously in denial) that it is spring. It got warmer, and it’s been mostly drier, and I am convinced, convinced, its spring time. I know it’s only February, and I know I am going to get blindsided by sudden, wet, February snow at some point, don’t care, it’s spring. I’ll die on this hill.
But no, in seriousness, it’s been sunny and warmer and my entire outlook on life has changed. Literally the first sunny day, I was so happy and productive and I was explaining to my friend what a sudden burst of energy and productivity I had and she goes, “well, duh, you’re solar-powered”. Which, I simultaneously feel like I knew, but I think that’s the first time someone said it to me, instead of just my joking, and I realized it might be a little more true than I had thought. It’s so much easier to do things and think happy thoughts when the sun is out. It just is so hopeful.
Everyone has been thinking I am crazy because I keep trying to justify working outside and it’s still, realistically, too cold and wet to work outside on a laptop, but I keep trying. It’s blowing like crazy outside right now and yet, I was just wondering if it’s too windy for the notebook.
It is.
In other news, we are starting to plan the garden out. I know I want peas, beans, and carrots, and I think I would like to grow pumpkins and watermelon again, even though I haven’t had much luck with those. I really wanna grow potatoes. I had so much fun with them last time and I live in Idaho, it’s necessary. It seriously might be a law. I really want to try corm again but we are two states and three garden plots into failing that crop. I cannot successfully grow corn. But maybe this is the year? what else I should I grow? Maybe eggplant? Can I grow eggplant here?
I also wanna add hollyhocks to the arbor vitae hedges this year, because they are annual but they self-re-plant AND they are super pretty and the deer have done a whole number on the hedge row but apparently don’t like hollyhocks. I also think I want I to plant them along the arena fence for a little privacy but I need to double check if horses can/will eat them. Because Lord knows, my girls will try.
Along with those, I really wanna put sunflowers in the garden beds. We grew those sunflowers a while ago for my cousins for my cousin’s wedding and I loved them so much. But they went bonkers and all my neighbors had sunflowers too, and when we transported them, you could find sunflowers the following year along the route. So, I need to do some research before I let them loose on the valley again.
I also wanna try thyme? Apparently thyme is a really great, safe for animals and good for the environment type ground cover. I am hoping it will clean up and keep my hillside nice, because currently the only thing I am growing up there is tumbleweeds.
Anyways, that’s where my brain is. I have been painting winterscapes occasionally but it’s transitioned to springscapes overnight. I am so ready to be outside all the time.
Its a good thing that the groundhog decided spring is coming early, I think we would have had beef had he said anything else. I would have had to have a conversation with the groundhog, that he needs to get brave and not flee his shadow. I’ll be honest though, I completely forgot to even check and didn’t find out until the Monday after.
See, my parents got married on Groundhog Day, and we were having too much fun celebrating to notice the little guy. My parents wanted to go out on a small “family adventure” and then out to eat with my brother and I. So we did a little window shopping and tourist-ing in Boise, I spent far too much money but solved some fun problems, and we had a lovely meal. They’ve been married 33 year, can you imagine? It’s true love, they are soulmates and they make me believe in fairytales. So sweet.
Until we chat again, my friends!
The Farmer's Blogger 