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Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Wisconsin weather, it's a good thing?

Trying to post everyday during the month of April? Yeah, we'll just write that off to temporary insanity and move on.

There are so many things happening around this joint, I'm not sure where to start. Spring is always an insane time on a farm, but add in 3 kids, a husband working overtime and me leaving town for 5 days and you have a level of craziness that is hard to top.

I'm going to go back about a week and start with our beautiful weather we had on April 5th. We took advantage of the sunshine and got the compost into the beds in the hoophouse, tilled them and even planted seeds. The pleasure this gave me is pretty indescribable.















Of course, everything is always done under the watchful eye of Rugby.













and Kino.













If you are someone who likes to have their hands in the soil, winter is a pretty long season and coming back to it in the spring is kind of like Christmas!

Did I dare to say Christmas? Could we call that a jinx? How else would we explain what happened about 5 days after those pictures were taken?















Six inches of snow fell on April 10th and stayed around with howling winds and rain/snow mix for about 4 days. The weather is something I frequently bitch about, but this is ridiculous.

Since then, things have improved slightly. The snow is finally gone except for the large piles in the woods that are still hanging on, but there is an end in sight. Of course what shows up after the snow is the muck. High rubber boots are the shoe of choice from now until things dry up about May 15th, depending on the rainfall.

The transplants are all snug in the small greenhouse. Paying for the propane to keep that little greenhouse warm is not much fun, but it's all in your priorities, right? And let's face it, tomatoes are a priority!

4 comments:

J said...

I remember reading in one of the Little House books that when it snowed that late in the spring, they plowed the snow into the ground, believing that it had extra nutritional properties. That makes no sense, but still, I remember it. ;)

And yes, Tomatoes are a priority! I can't grow them as well as a farmer (wrong sun exposure, no real dirt in my yard, etc.), so I have always found the enterprise of trying to grow them in pots to be a heartbreaking work of wasted water and pathetic returns. Now I just go to the farmers' market on Sundays and get yummy heirlooms to my hearts content. Get the 'sauce' tomatoes, and they're totally cheap. :)

Akkire said...

those tomatoes pay for the propane in the end...right? :)

Minnesota Matron said...

Yesterday someone was planting flowers in the flower boxes outside of Bread and Chocolate (love this place). I said to the young woman: "That's pretty optimistic."

She crossed her fingers. . .

Love the green and signs of hope!

KJ said...

Wow. I love all the pictures. I don't even know what to say about the snow. I'm unqualified to comment, tropical girl that I've been for the last many years.