spring first

happy first day of spring! was the first thing out of cosmo's mouth this morning. then he dashed over to his calendar to check the date. he's been waiting for this day. we've been telling him that when spring arrives, we can go out in the yard and look for ants for the ant farm we picked up this winter at a swap. today was the day! luckily, the weather cooperated, and it really felt like a spring day. and (bonus!) there were ants!

he and carl set out some bait (honey) on a piece of paper, and after the ants gathered around it, they quickly, and carefully dumped them into the top of the farm. after that it was just a matter of feeding them some cracker crumbs, dropping water in, and watching them go. ants are endlessly entertaining to watch.

for carl and i, it's the new TV. cosmo is fascinated with them too, but then again, he's fascinated with a nearly deflated old balloon, so his gazing at the ant farm window comes and goes. but he's been interested in the habits of ant colonies for a couple of summers now, so i foresee much educational fun in the months ahead.

of course, spring means gardening. the cold frame managed to keep a number of lettuce and spinach plants alive all winter, plus one hearty chard.

they are nearly full sized now, and we enjoyed our first garden salad last weekend when carl's parents visited, along with the last of the fall carrots. i've transplanted some lettuce, spinach and brassica seedlings from the basement grow-light area to the cold frame, and scattered a few plants around the garden as well.

it is perhaps a bit early to expect much growth, but most of them are hanging on. arugula is up, and already making my mouth water! peas are in the ground, but not yet popping up. the garlic is looking good, as are the chives, and perennials and spring bulbs are coming into their own

on this vernal equinox, i turned the compost (the most back breaking chore of the organic garden), started weeding some perennial beds-- with the enthusiastic helping hands of a certain five year old, who triumphantly shouts oh yeah...johnson grass! when he successfully rips up a long trail of that pesky weed. it takes a little one to remind me that weeding can be extremely satisfying.

dinner was enjoyed on the porch (including fresh baked bread, and homemade butter), and we capped off the day with a symbolic torching of last year's christmas tree plus various other woody garden debris from the previous season.



at our little rented urban homestead, spring has officially been ushered in!

a hoodie-wearing day.

today, it got cold. it's not going to freeze tonight or anything, but it's not a good gardening day. we had a big thunderstorm last night, and the ground is too wet to work, which is what i need to do next. but still, i managed to get in a bit of garden action anyway. i made a quick tent for my tomatoes, which i probably should not have planted yet. but i did. and since it will get below 50 degrees tonight, i wanted to give them a chance to warm up today. i doubt it did any good, but it was all i could think of. not sure if it is the cold front or what, but i have been in a foul mood all day (thus, the uncharacteristic pessimism), and i can't seem to shake it. happens sometimes.

i bartered with my former landlord for some mulch. i spread the mulch at our old place (across the street), in exchange for a pile dumped in our driveway. it worked out to about an hour's worth of work-- not bad! ya can never have too much mulch.

meanwhile, the garden is busy doing its very ordinary and miraculous work. just looking at these gorgeous plants is enough to lift anyone's spirits. so, shall we?


these pea plants are now setting pods. is there a prettier edible plant than a pea?


an action shot of the mulch in a perennial bed, and, have i mentioned that i'm a sucker for lily of the valley? looks like a chandelier for fairies, and smells like old lady perfume.


two new additions to the perennial border: st. john's wort (which deserves it's own post), and a few fall bearing red raspberry bushes, courtesy of our dear neighbor, jack. he claims they'll bear fruit this year. i do hope he is correct.


cosmo brought home some bean plants he started at pre-school. we planted them together, and i fashioned an up-cycled plant marker that we had seen in family fun.


cosmo was probably more interested in the marker than the plants, but that's okay. he's learning so much about the garden this year. he can name almost everything we are growing, plus a bunch of the weeds. he loves pulling radishes from the ground, though he doesn't care to eat them. i, on the other hand, have developed a strong taste for them.


i finally tore the row cover off of the brassica bed. besides being an eye-sore, plants were getting cramped, and it seemed a bit too warm under there, too (especially for these cool loving plants). i figure they are all strong enough now to withstand an attack of cabbage moth/caterpillars. the broccoli already produced a few florets, and the cabbages are forming heads.


the kale is ready for harvesting, and so is the lone chard. we've been enjoying lettuce and arugula at every meal.

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there. i feel better already. more and more i come to realize what a perfect therapy the garden is for me.

april showers

this morning's rain couldn't keep us from the first outdoor farmer's market of the season. cosmo got a honey straw, and made his traditional visit to the spiral fountain. since the water hasn't been turned on yet, it was actually nice to have the rain.



harmony school student's were having an art show next door, and i was quite impressed with a number of the pieces shown. these delicately crafted wire and paper structures were suspended from the ceiling with golden balloons and fine thread.



here's cosmo, slipping ever-so-carefully, between two configurations of paper airplanes, moments before getting scolded by one of the harmony teachers. i can see why he was concerned. it was a fragile piece, but cosmo understood that, and was passing through without touching anything. the gentle breeze he generated, actually enhanced the work, in my humble opinion. but then, i have always been a fan of art installations that invite interaction.



tomorrow is easter, and we are ready with dyed eggs, and anticipation of our neighbor's annual egg hunt and polka party. i wonder if the cops will be called again this year?

what spring looks like

i have missed this poor little neglected blog. i know it would be better if i posted everyday. but i guess i am just not that kind of blogger. plus, it's spring! who wants to be sitting inside staring at a computer screen when you could be outside playing in the dirt!?!?! not me. on these warm, breezy, sunny, spring days, i try to get all my required work out of the way, first thing in the morning, so i can head out to the garden. the last predicted frost date for our area is over a month away, but there's already plenty to do out there. so far, i have planted broccoli, kale, cabbage and brussel sprout seedlings, all of which i started from seed, indoors. well, that is not entirely true. i had broccoli and cabbage in the cold frame all winter. but i had started them too late in the fall, so they were tiny, and didn't grow much in the cold. i chose the strongest ones, and brought them inside, to get a head start under out grow light. they fared well, and are considerably larger than the brussel sprouts i started from seed indoors, around the same time.



because the cabbage worms decimated our brassicas last year, i feel the need to cover them all with row cover to keep those pesky moths from laying eggs on our lovely cabbage leaves. whether or not i can live with that hideous tent in my garden all summer, is another question entirely.



i have also planted out all the leeks i started indoors. their tiny threads look so fragile in the ground, it is hard to believe they will amount to anything. i've also planted onion sets, and direct-seeded bunching onions. peas are up, and sort of protected from hungry rabbits, with various-sized wire fencing.



the spinach is getting its first true leaves. mmm, i love spinach. luckily i have a few mature spinach plants that overwintered, with just a layer of mulch over them. cosmo has already started picking leaves off of those, for snacking. lettuce is coming along too. i started some indoors, and some direct-seeded outside. no one in our family is fond of radishes, but i love how fast they grow, and find them satisfying to look at as one of the first spring crops, so i planted a little row of those, and long rows of carrots and beets. cosmo and i pulled up the last of the fall carrots last week. they overwintered nicely with a layer of straw on top, and they sure are tasty.



garlic looks happy, and i've started turning the rye cover crops.
with the cool weather crops in the ground, the warm weather stuff is just beginning to germinate indoors. tomatoes and peppers galore! i also managed to build a new compost bin yesterday.



now i just need some nitrogen-rich material, to layer with my carbon-rich dry leaves. anybody got any extra nitrogen they aren't using? anyone??



ah, but there is more to spring than gardening. we get to play outside, and ride our bikes! we have a new trail-a-bike for cosmo, which is way easier than the baby seat on the back, and cosmo really enjoys getting to pedal, and honk his horn. he has also tried out his two-wheeler pedal bike, and had some sweet success his first time out. we'll work on that more in the coming weeks.



there are also balls to bounce on, and insects to investigate (studying a hole with sky and stephanie),



not to mention grain to grind and dough to knead.



on the spring equinox, cosmo successfully balanced an egg on its end!*



inspired by family fun, i crafted this sort-of advent calendar for easter. cosmo gets to break open one of the circles each day, to find a candy surprise. it's made with tissue paper, glued over a cardboard egg carton. i'm sure it feels great to punch a finger through. even more easter treats arrived in the mail, from nani!



in other cosmo news, they recently had a reach for the stars read-a-thon at cosmo's school. the kids commit to reading (or being read to) for a certain number of minutes, and collect pledges. to my surprise, cosmo got really into it. he was excited about going around to neighbors, and asking for money (unusually for this shy boy), and he wanted to do the reading himself. since we always read several stories at bed time, we did extra reading for this program. cosmo decided that all "early reader" books, which he mostly read himself, would qualify for reach for the stars. we got a stack of those from the library. he met his goal of 150 minutes in one week, and wanted to keep going. he gets to color a star for every 15 minutes of reading, which is his favorite part. in addition to raising money for his pre-school, he also earned $40 in free books! bonus!



dear friends came to visit, and cosmo and ida jane had a glorious three day holiday together.



they played so nicely, i regretted (for a second) not having two kids.



i was stunned to see cosmo climb to the top of the spider web structure (also known as the-lawsuit-waiting-to-happen) out at cascades park. most playgrounds are fairly uninteresting to cosmo, but that day, he was running around like crazy, trying everything.



i think he might have been having a good time. what do you think?


there's even more to tell than this, but i think i'll stop here. from here on out, i'll be blogging daily.

april fools!

how is spring looking in your world?


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*note, it is way easier to do this if you can find a slight divet in your floor.