Life With The Crew

The Warmth Returns

End of April.  Tomorrow is a new month, one in which the sandals come out, the winter coats can be put away, and the woodstove should go into Summer hibernation.  The first month of Spring is still rather cold and potentially snowy here, April is everything getting green and the early flowers starting - bulbs, Bleeding Hearts, Forget-me-nots, Brunnera (Siberian Bugloss - a favorite of mine), azaleas, dandelions!  May is when the sun feels like it is hear to stay for a while.

My latest shawl is a blend for Summer - 100% organic cotton and Merino wool.  And for the babies, I have a sunny golden yellow smaller baby blanket.

Happy May everyone!

A White April

There seems to be so many trees in bloom at the moment with white blossoms - one of them being this cherry in my backyard.  Love it!  It was at its peak the past couple days and now it is "snowing" in the yard.  

The other color of the month is green of course - green everywhere!  I have been puttering in the garden in between riding at the barn, homeschooling time, and adventures to see what kinds of birds and amphibians we can find in the woods around us.  After being in our home for 15 years, I have reached a point where the perennials are doing their thing and I don't have much to do except keeping on top of the weeds.  The yard could always use some updated landscaping, but the horse and pony fund is more important at the moment.  

Speaking of green, I still have this lovely "Sprout" green shawl for sale in my Etsy shop.

This Spring Thing

Hi-ho, hi-ho, into April we go!  Halfway through already - not sure how that happened!  The grass is green, though I have not mowed yet.  I'm going to wait until we see if any morels decide to pop up this year beneath the old apple tree.  The chickens have been loving their free range lifestyle and I have to admit that it is pretty fun seeing them roaming all around and come running whenever we step outside.  However, their toilet habits leave something to be desired - good thing the garden hose is located right on the deck.  One of the bonuses that I didn't think about was how yellow their yolks are now that they are eating so much greenery.  Their coop is a large area for just three chickens, but the ground is compacted dirt.  We give them regular chicken feed and kitchen scraps, plus whatever bugs they find, and their eggs are always more yellow than grocery store eggs.  But now that they are foraging throughout the whole yard, their yolks are GOLD and firm and more "eggy".  My pancakes actually look like I added yellow food coloring or turmeric to them!  

We have been spending four mornings a week at the barn, enjoying the time in the outdoor ring and gearing the little babe up for her first show season.  So far that only includes two shows, but we have had fun buying the necessary show attire and gear.  The furry white pony has been getting lots of exercise and I can actually see some tummy muscles!  

The woods are looking greener at every walk and we've spotted the first white Hepatica, Bloodroot, white violets, and the first thrust of Mayapples.

In the animal world, we saw about 40 turtles today, heard a gazillion bullfrogs and managed to sneak up on a couple before they indignantly jumped away, and then we saw THIS:

It might not look very impressive in the photo, but this was one HUGE snapper!  It's shell was between 2-3' across.  I always have my eyes open for them at this location, but the little babe spotted this one luckily across the pond from us.  All the Painted turtles slipped into the world when we approached, but this one wasn't phased at all.  No need to be afraid when you're that big.

Hope you've been spotting some Spring things in your neck of the world!