A Hint of Spring — Janet Szabo

This truly has been the mildest winter I can remember in the 26 years that we have lived in Montana. We may have had one or two nights below zero, but not many. And while the snowpack in the mountains is at or above normal, what is down here in the valleys is anything but. Hopefully we will have a rainy May and June or we may dry out and be in trouble this summer.

Yesterday was bright and sunny. I took some cardboard out to the greenhouse for storage until planting time. Some sections of the garden have an awful weed problem. Other sections—most notably, where we have put down plastic—don’t. I would like to try cardboard this year to keep the weeds down. It’s easy to come by and it degrades. I could have spent a few hours basking in the warmth of the greenhouse. I think it must have been in the 70s inside.

And this is the garden—part of it, anyway. This is a fraction of the snow that is usually out there this time of year:

The raspberry canes are to the left and the piggy pasture is to the right. I am looking forward to having pigs out there again this year.

Some of the podcasts I’ve been listening to this week have really stretched my thinking. Amy Dingmann, host of the A Farmish Kind of Life podcast, did an episode entitled Winter Is Hard: Mental Health on the Homestead. To be honest, this is not a problem I have. I like winter and I welcome it as a respite from the endless busy-ness of the spring, summer, and fall. But I recognize that winter can be difficult (the suicide rate spikes in February in Montana), and I applaud her for having the courage to speak up about her struggles. Even when someone is committed to a particular lifestyle, like homesteading, there will be challenges. I love living where we do and don’t mind the relative isolation, but I still need to take a road trip every so often or my head implodes (in contrast to the husband, who went for a stretch of about 10 years without ever leaving the county). There are no “one size fits all” solutions—we all have to figure out what works for each of us.

I also listened to a Living Free in Tennessee podcast about tiny house living. Again, not something I want to rush out and try, but it was fascinating (and educational) to hear why someone might choose that lifestyle. Nicole, the podcast host, is such a good interviewer. She could interview a stuffed animal and make it interesting.

My order from Victory Seeds arrived yesterday:

This company is in Molalla, Oregon, and they are my go-to source for seeds. Everything I get from them does well. I do have to supplement with some seeds from Baker Creek because Victory doesn’t carry everything I want to grow, but the bulk of my supply comes from Victory. This year, I added some flowers and herbs to the seed order. I want to interplant the veggies with things like borage and calendula for the pollinators. And I am going to try starting cowpeas in the greenhouse this year. I am determined to get a good crop for Cathy, who grew up in the south and misses them.

I had Elysian’s little guy over here last night. She is taking a land management class once a week and I told her he was welcome to come hang out with me. The husband left for fire training, I built a fire in the fireplace, and he chose videos to watch on YouTube. (The little boys don’t get a lot of screen time—which is great—so watching TV here is something of a treat.) By the time she got back a couple of hours later, he was asleep on the carpet and I was crashed on the couch under a quilt. For some reason, everyone falls asleep when they come to Auntie Janet’s house, including Auntie Janet.

I got one pieced section (of four) of the last border for the commission quilt made yesterday afternoon. The goal is another one this afternoon, the last two tomorrow, and then I can cross that project off the list. I am going to cut out and make a few more knit tops and I really need a new bag for this spring. AL Frances Textiles, where I get my waxed canvas, has been adding to their inventory recently. I think I am going to do an upsized version of the Metro Hipster (but without the recessed zipper top) because I really like the one I made last year.