One Warm Day!

Yesterday (Jan. 23): 63 degrees outside, not much wind and a bit of sunshine!

The sun peeked over the clouds in mid-morning.

I'm eager to be outside, eager to put my fingers in some soil! I hauled two loads of dark compost in the wheelbarrow up to my newer herb bed, spreading it out to nourish that soil.

The next project I've been eager to do is clean out two little tire planters on either side of our driveway. I planted annuals in them last spring/summer, but they were full of weeds. I also noticed some random daffodils bulbs peeking up in the yard where they ought not be. After cleaning out the tire planters I rescued the bulbs and put them in there.

 The two planters, ready for spring!

Daffodils are also well up around the big fig tree.

 The fig tree looks awful because we've gradually been pruning it back hard. At last all the branches are reachable.
Daffies are up!

 The new branches of the fig tree are loaded with buds.

What was Adam doing all this time, while I labored in the yard. Aside from filling the wheelbarrow tire with air, he was diagnosing my dying washing machine.

It still ran, but agitation was very slow, and it would not spin the water out of the clothes well at all. He took it all apart and discovered a bad clutch. (Who knew? My washer was a manual shift?) He's ordered the part and soon I'll have a happier laundry situation.

I spent some time studying the vegetable garden, planning locations for the crops this spring. Here's a rough diagram, based on rotating plants away from where they were last year:

Monday is Adam's date for getting started in the garden, weeding out the beds and prepping them for spring. I need to get onion sets in the ground soon. I already have my seeds for peas and early greens. And this spring we'll be eating our asparagus for the first time! I can't wait.

January Farm

Our little farm is about as snoozy as we are in wintertime. The greenest place is definitely the front porch, which Adam enclosed in plastic again this year.

 I have three leggy tomato plants. Today I noticed two little tomatoes!

 I dug herbs from my beds and plunked them into pots in late fall. Now I have: dill, cilantro, basil.

 My young hens are laying through the winter. All are part silkie (I think?), but only the youngest one, who started laying just a few weeks ago, gives me a true olive-colored egg. See?

 I have six hens and a rooster I don't like, but he does his job. Well, he does half of his job. He protects his ladies. Not sure how effective he is in the romantic side of his job though!

 Today is barely warm, so farm doggies are outside. Trixie:

 Ned:

Our strawberry transplants are surviving on the front porch too.

I was asking Adam today when I'll likely be able to start working in the greenhouse, as I love doing in the late winter/early spring. He'll cover the greenhouse next week. I should be able to start fiddling in there in mid-February, I hope.

Lastly: gourds. They are curing well on the front porch.

See all that lovely mold? These are the largest ones. I've been practicing on smaller ones that dried first. Here's a summarizing video of what I've done with gourds thus far:

By the time I get to the largest gourds I should have my style perfected, haha! Thanks so much for stopping by to check on our sleepy little farmette, where not much happens and we're mighty peaceful about it.