Valentine's Week on the Farm

Feb. 10 -- I put the first Wando peas into the garden, in the first bed north of the hoop house.
Feb. 11 -- A 4th asparagus spear is up in the center crown of the bed.
Feb. 11 -- I started my very first seeds in the new hoop house, a small 9-cell of basil seeds from last year.
Feb. 11 -- Adam trimmed the grapevines in the orchard.

 

Feb. 11 and 12 -- I made grapevine wreaths.
Feb. 12 -- Punkin laid an egg again after a laycation of about a month and a half.

Hers is the blue one.
Feb. 12 -- Julia wanted a painting companion, so I painted Ruby, my Rhode Island Red.

Feb. 13 -- Adam put posts in the sweet pea bed, but then he was very tired.

He also attached the window opener on the hoop house window. And Punkin gave another egg, so perhaps she's on a roll.
Feb. 13 -- After promising not to do any unnecessary crocheting (for the sake of my aching thumbs), I am making a soap pouch for myself. I have so many soap slivers and want to put them all in this pouch to use them. Then I thought, "This isn't too bad. Maybe I should make a few for selling at the market." Sigh.

Feb. 15 -- I'm still yarning. After finishing that soap pouch, I made another, and then a dishcloth, and now a second dishcloth too. I don't seem to do anything by halves.

 I think this soap pouch is particularly cute, don't you?

 Here's the hoop house window opener I mentioned. The temperature-sensing device is in the black wand. It screws to adjust the setting for what temperature is desired, and the lever arm opens the window accordingly.

 And Adam put a handle on the door, which is quite useful.

 These are all little things, but it's been a week of little things because Adam is still tired, weak, and sick.
My hens are confused. They never used the laying box on the left. They sometimes used the laying box on the right. Their favorite laying spot was down on the floor of the coop, back in that far right corner under the board, next to the cement block.

 Then I put this straw bale in the coop to have ready straw to put into the boxes and on the floor, so they would be more comfortable ... but they had other ideas!

 They quite like the top of the straw bale as their very favorite laying spot now! They've dug out a nice recess there. Yesterday I found three eggs there, the first time I've found three eggs in one day in a very long time.

And so our days go on this week, with Adam recovering slowly, and both of us longing for warm days. Today was rainy, windy, cold. I came home from work ready for soup and a hot bath. I'm eager for Monday when I start a week off, and take a few days to visit my parents and family in West Virginia. I haven't seen them since last May.