This morning I got up and went straight out into the garden. I went out just after ten and it was about 70 degrees out and starting to feel humid. I started to move pieces of wood around to mark around what will soon be the watermelon garden. Meghan helped me. She is so funny, she loves to help in the garden. I had to move these 6 foot long wood poles and she grabbed one end while I got the other. She also helps me pull weeds in the strawberry garden, which will be next to the watermelons. On the way by something red caught my eye. There were cherries on the cherry tree! Perfect little red cherries! I was so excited. Meghan wanted to eat them, and I was trying to explain to her that they weren't ripe yet, so they wouldn't taste that good. We then went into the garden and I started to pull weeds from the herb bed. She went down to check her potatoes (which she keeps calling tomatoes) and she started yelling because she found two Colorado Potato beetles. Don't worry, the plants have been saved, I squished the bugs with my sandal! Joshua made some horseradish spray by putting leaves of the horse radish into water in a spray bottle and letting it sit in the sun, and that is supposed to help keep the beetles off, so I will have Meghan spray hers potato plants with some the next time we head out there.I pulled up some radishes, which are shown above, and they are extra spicy even when they are this small. YUM! Radishes are by far one of the easiest things to grow. Even if you don't eat them it is so much fun to grow them with kids who can't wait for things to grow! They are ready to pick within ten days. In the garden there is one tomato that has flowers, there are some florettes showing on the broccoli, there are flowers on the bean plants, some of the shallots that I planted and thought for sure they were dead have come up, the onions are doing great as well. The peppers aren't growing as fast as I would like, but they are doing ok. The corn is coming up, and you can tell which one is the strawberry popcorn because it has dark red stalks. My climbing rose on the side of the house has its first open bud, which is a beautiful pale pink and there are lots of other buds just waiting to open. The climbing rose in the duck area is in full flower and has a wonderful scent to it. The peach trees are doing well, the fruit is about the size of a kiwi fruit. The apple trees are just weighed down with apples, so I am hoping for a great harvest this year. There are grapes on the grapevine, and I still have three grapevines that need planting! And unfortunately the weeds are also doing great so I have hours of weeding ahead of me...but that can wait for tonight when it isn't so warm.
The birds are very active right now. As I sit here writing there is a chipping sparrow carving out large chunks of suet, letting them drop to the ground to eat it, then flying back up to wipe its beak off on the branch. The red winged black birds are also eating the suet, along with the downy woodpeckers, and red bellied woodpeckers. I haven't seen the white or red breasted nuthatches yet but I am hoping they will make an appearance soon. There are Carolina chickadees nesting in a dead tree in the orchard, and the bluebirds are very active, which is great because they eat tons of insects. There are cardinal and robins and grackles and the list could go on and on.
The pond is starting to become covered with duckweed again, and the boys brought home some fish for the pond although I am not sure if any of them survived. The bullfrogs have started singing and the peepers seem to have quieted down now that they have finished announcing "SPRING IS COMING! SPRING IS COMING!" I love watching the changes that happen all over the farm season by season. It reminds me so much of God and how things are new every morning, and how great is His faithfulness! When you live on a farm you get to see those promises unfold in so many ways right in front of your eyes.
