To put it lightly, last week was stressful. I took on a new responsibility which involved changing my routine and pretty much giving up any extra freetime. It was a tough thing for me to admit that I'd bitten off more than I could chew, and that even though I'd made a commitment, some re-evaluating was necessary. Fortunately things worked out alright and I was able to adjust. I am hoping this week will be smoother. 
Because Sunday was the first full day that I had in a while to relax, I decided to take full advantage. The husband and I made a full breakfast and ate slowly. There were also many hours spent outside. So many things have been happening out in the garden - even without me being there. I got to munch on my first piece of asparagus for the season.
It was of course eaten straight from the ground as I stood in the garden and was absolutely delicious. If only there had been more - but it looks like I'll get a bit more this year. It is supposed to be in the 3rd year that asparagus really begins to take off -so next year will [hopefully] be the year of asparagus harvest! 
The trees in the orchard are also changing rapidly right now. In the past month or so, they've gone from being completely bare to being covered in leaves and blossoms now. One of my recent "projects" with my full grown chickens has been training them to feed on the grass that grows under the trees in the orchard. When I let them out to free range, I throw a bit of corn scratch in the grass under various trees. They are pretty good about mowing it down to nothing. There are a couple of benefits to having little avian landscapers - when they take the grass down, that means we don't have to go in and cut it down with the motorized week wacker. 
Also, ants and other pests live in the grass below the trees and the lower that grass is, the more likely those bugs are to stay off our trees and potential fruit. This reduces the need to use any kind of insecticidal spray...and in my opinion, the fewer sprays, the better. 
Speaking of chickens...I have been slowly integrating my ten new Buff Orpington chicks with my 4 full grown Americauan hens. They are now all living and sleeping together, but for the first few days I had the little ones outside, I kept them in a netted off area of their own - reason being that they were still small enough to squeeze through the openings in our wire fencing. They've grown a bit too big for that since then, but they still look tiny next to my four full grown hens. I wish the hens would be nicer, but I guess nature is what it is and they'll work it out.
They are slowly working out the pecking order, so far nothing too horrible has happened. But I do worry about my little girls getting hurt. 
On Sunday I also spent several hours in my new greenhouse getting seeds started. I went heavy on the tomatoes and basil, and I'm excited to try eggplant for the first time.. 
It was pretty relaxing, I enjoyed every minute. So did both Figaro and Bambino. 
Fig was pretty interested in the chickens, the little ones are now big enough that he isn't a threat to them. Bambino ran around until he was pretty tuckered out...he ended up taking a nap in the Pod next to me while I worked on getting seeds planted.
He looked so cozy and peaceful lying there on the pea gravel...I couldn't help myself with the pictures!
Be back soon!
Lately, every time I spend time out in my garden, I am overwhelmed at seeing my dream garden coming together. I am nearly 32 years old, but I remember beginning to dream about having a garden when I was 19. If I had been able to somehow magically have had my dream come true back then, I don't think my "dream garden" would have amounted to even half of what my current garden has become. I have so much space to plant and experiment. I have a nice area for permanent plants like my strawberries and the flowers I planted today, and lots of space for rotating seasonal vegetables. I have a beautiful orchard that now holds 21 fruit trees and a safe, contained area for my chickens. Life is funny that way, the sweat equity I have from many hours of hard work in my garden makes it a very special place to me. I don't think walking into a "turn key" garden with everything set up would be quite so satisfying. Years ago before I'd met the husband, I told a friend that the type of man who I wanted to be with would bring me fresh cut flowers all of the time or would even buy me a membership to one of those annual "bouquet of the month" clubs for me. Again, it was a young and limited dream, the man I thought I wanted would have thrown a few bucks at flowers. Instead, I have a man who gives money, but also time and hard work to my dream. Not to say that he doesn't bring me fresh flowers...but have you seen what a bouquet can go for - especially during winter - it can be ridiculous. Now rather than fresh flowers I prefer he buy me bulbs or tubers so I can grow my own and enjoy them year after year.
It was nice and sunny, a good thing because I have been fighting a nasty head cold. If I'd had that sub job today I would have had a hard time convincing myself to follow the teacher's plan. Instead, I spent the first part of my morning in a science classroom - half day sub jobs are the best, it's short and sweet and I still get my day. The rain hadn't started yet when I first came home, so I mixed up some dormant spray for our trees...several of them are starting to bud out, below is one of our plum trees. I'm hoping that the spray had the chance to soak in and dry a bit before the rain began, otherwise the spraying was a waste...
I also put another 15 primrose plants in our front beds - they were an early Valentine's Day gift from the husband. The color has been refreshing, even though the first round of flowers was my idea, the husband has appreciated how the flowers brighten things up, he wanted to add a bit more color to make it even more cheerful.
We are going on a get-away trip to Hawaii in about a week, so I think our Valentine's Day celebration will be postponed until we are there. The s-son is with us for the upcoming three day weekend. Having a 12 year old boy around hardly makes for a romantic setting. I'm looking foward to the warmth, the beautiful colors, the delicious fruit, and being alone with the husband.!
I also spent sometime in the orchard, driving stakes into the ground so I could train down the branches of our fruit trees. I went to a seminar about orchard maintenance about a year ago at a local Country Living Expo. The gentleman who taught the seminar is an expert with fruit trees and he explained that branches that are horizontal product more fruit than branches which grow vertically. It has to do with the way that the tree sends sap into it's limbs and blossoms. It is easiest to train the branches to grow horizontally when the tree is young and the branches have not yet hardened. The trees in our orchard are young, so we are focusing more on training them than on pruning. It was a great workshop, I'm hoping to take it again this winter.
So Saturday we went to a local nursery and picked out five new fruit trees: 
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