Today is Planting Day

I knocked quite a few items off the to-do list yesterday, starting with 17 pints of beans:

I still need to do a batch of white beans, too, but this will keep us going for a while.

Every fall, I put a string of lights up around the porch to brighten up the place. I took the lights down yesterday and replaced them with the wind chimes. I like the lights, but I also like the sound of the wind chimes.

I sewed the pincushion and stuffed it with crushed walnut shells. A few years ago, I bought a 25-pound bag of walnut shells. I still have 24 pounds left.

The annual spring invasion of the forest animals has begun. Every so often, I have to go out and yell at the female flicker who seems to think that our TV antenna is a tree. (We live in a pine forest. I don’t know how you could get the two confused.) There are male turkeys fighting in the front yard. The stellar jays harass me for scratch grains every time I go out to the chicken coop. The deer and rabbits wander back and forth in front of the driveway alarm and set it off. I would not be surprised to see a bear out there soon.

After lunch, I went out to wander around the garden, where I had a short conversation with a male turkey who couldn’t figure out how to get out. He eventually realized he could fly out the way he came in.

I checked on the rhubarb—always the first thing to come up in the spring—and saw a few tiny red shoots:

It was warm enough for me to be out in shirtsleeves yesterday. I am happy with the way things are looking out there. The berry bushes all have buds on them. The lavenders are starting to green up. I am itching to play in the dirt.

Today is supposed to be even nicer, so the plan is to get as many seed trays started in the greenhouse as I can. I’m feeling a bit more stressed about this than usual because we’re not only starting plants for ourselves, we’re starting plants for the Mountain Brook Plant Sale in May. Oh well, all I can do is plant what I plant and see what we have for sale in a couple of weeks.