rising sap

The sap is rising and we have spring fever pretty bad around here!  Most of our days have been spent out of doors eating, playing, digging, walking, biking and relaxing.  Oh, and working.  There's been plenty of that too! 

Outside

Peach (left) and plum tree blossoms

Jason cutting up hop vines

Iris, garlic, chives w/ sorrel in background

Tilled garden

Inside

Seed starting setup

Leeks!

Mama mia, pasta machine!

Vintage tins

The whole garden is tilled. I did some of the tilling this year, huzzah!  Usually I'm busy doing other spring chores or wrangling Abby and Jason ends up doing the tilling but this year he hurt his back just in time for tilling, so I helped him out.  Just a little.  We also filled about 30 lawn bags with leaves from our white oak and dead plants from last growing season.  Our fruit trees are blossoming even more with the last two days of sunshine and the plum blossoms smell heavenly!

Inside we have been making a lot of homemade pasta with pullet eggs from Cathe's chickens.  The noodle machine, as I have dubbed it, has gotten a workout!  I bought it 10 years ago in Ames and haven't used it in about 7 years, I don't know why.  Fettuccine has been the choice noodle but this week I'm going to make some butternut squash ravioli.  Yum! The inside chores have not been at the top of the priority list lately but I have had time to clean a little and refresh the top of our antique buffet where the decorations change seasonally.

As for seeds, I have shown you the seed starting setup with two layers, soon to be three (sorry not the best photo).  I'm not planting anything or starting seeds until March 25th, which is the next good day according to the lunar calendar.  I get my planting advice from this guy, he's a super star in my book!  Come the 25th it will be all out planting mania around here.  Starting the rest of my seeds.  Planting onions, shallots, radish, lettuce, spinach, chard, peas, carrots and some other stuff I forget. Usually we work from morning until it is too dark to see what we are doing.  I relish those days and the good feeling of a hard day's work when I go to bed at night, which is what I should do right now.

Before I do though, please notice the fancy button to the right.  This week I'm starting a new sewing project for myself and will be blogging about it then entering the final product in a contest.  You can read more about the contest at Made by Rae.  Good night!