This spring in the garden has been fabulous. The shrubs, bulbs and plants have just bloomed and bloomed. The Cecile Brunner rose has so many blossoms, you think the whole bush is just one huge rose.
The Iris and lavender are so purple. When you get close to the lavender it hums with the sound of all the bees. |
We have been planting and planting in our vegetable garden but I am worried, because of the weather in April, that some plants are going to be late. Our CSA business normally is ready to start up at the end of May and that doesn't leave very much time for the plants to start producing. They can't eat the nice looking flowers!!! One a positive note, our cherry trees are just full of green fruit and it promises to be a good crop for my CSA members. When I woke up this morning my right hand was cramped shut, I couldn't move the fingers to open it. I had worked hard yesterday with my hand hoe digging trenches for seeds and after dinner I went out again to try and get a little more digging before it got too late. Guess in my dreams I was still planting.
Isn't this a cute picture? Saw it in another blog. Guess the mother cat doesn't mind the chicken babysitting her kittens and the kittens don't mind either.I am having some problems in my chicken coop. One or more of my chickens are breaking eggs. In the past, it would happen occasionally as one chicken using the same nest may put a hole in an egg in trying to move the egg/s around under them. But now I am finding 2-3 eggs a day broken completely and eaten. This is a very dangerous habits and very difficult to stop. I went out to coop several times yesterday to try and find out which bird/s are the egg crackers and to also take out eggs just as soon as they are laid. My hope is to stop the cycle, if possible. With the price of feed, it is very expensive to keep animals and my egg business helps with augmenting the costs. To loose 2-3 eggs a day really adds up to a great loss. Maybe I should just put some kittens in the coop to keep the naughty chickens busy minding them instead of pecking eggs!
I read an interesting article about APRONS. Most people don't even know anyone who wears an apron in the kitchen any more. I have a few friends that wear them and I have very fond memories of my Grandmother always having one in the kitchen and out in the garden. Here is the article.
"
I
don't think our kids know what an apron is.
The principal use of Grandma's apron was to protect the dress underneath, because she only had a few, it was easier to wash aprons than dresses and they used less material, but along with that, it served as a potholder for removing hot pans from the oven.
It was wonderful for drying children's tears, and on occasion was even used for cleaning out dirty ears. From the chicken coop, the apron was used for carrying eggs, fussy chicks, and sometimes half-hatched eggs to be finished in the warming oven. When company came, those aprons were ideal hiding places for shy kids. And when the weather was cold, grandma wrapped it around her arms. Those big old aprons wiped many a perspiring brow, bent over the hot wood stove. Chips and kindling wood were brought into the kitchen in that apron. From the garden, it carried all sorts of vegetables. After the peas had been shelled, it carried out the hulls. In the fall, the apron was used to bring in apples that had fallen from the trees. When unexpected company drove up the road, it was surprising how much furniture that old apron could dust in a matter of seconds. When dinner was ready, Grandma walked out onto the porch, waved her apron, and the men knew it was time to come in from the fields to dinner. It will be a long time before someone invents something that will; replace that 'old-time apron' that served so many purposes.
They would go crazy now trying to figure out how many germs were on that apron.
I don't think I ever caught anything from an apron... But Love !!"
The principal use of Grandma's apron was to protect the dress underneath, because she only had a few, it was easier to wash aprons than dresses and they used less material, but along with that, it served as a potholder for removing hot pans from the oven.
It was wonderful for drying children's tears, and on occasion was even used for cleaning out dirty ears. From the chicken coop, the apron was used for carrying eggs, fussy chicks, and sometimes half-hatched eggs to be finished in the warming oven. When company came, those aprons were ideal hiding places for shy kids. And when the weather was cold, grandma wrapped it around her arms. Those big old aprons wiped many a perspiring brow, bent over the hot wood stove. Chips and kindling wood were brought into the kitchen in that apron. From the garden, it carried all sorts of vegetables. After the peas had been shelled, it carried out the hulls. In the fall, the apron was used to bring in apples that had fallen from the trees. When unexpected company drove up the road, it was surprising how much furniture that old apron could dust in a matter of seconds. When dinner was ready, Grandma walked out onto the porch, waved her apron, and the men knew it was time to come in from the fields to dinner. It will be a long time before someone invents something that will; replace that 'old-time apron' that served so many purposes.
They would go crazy now trying to figure out how many germs were on that apron.
I don't think I ever caught anything from an apron... But Love !!"
Have a wonderful week from Windmill Farm and Country Design.
