Oh, sweet springtime. Full of mud, fresh air, smiles, and sun kissed faces. Spring has officially arrived on the farm and my heart feels like its dancing. Spring might be my new favorite season. Seeing new life emerge through dirty soil and being able to open the windows in my house gives me an excitement I do not know how to describe. I recently took a three-day trip to Vegas, and when I came back to most of the Minnesota snow melted, I immediately grabbed my camera and went outside to document the beauty that was surrounding our farm, our kids, and our animals.
The garlic is coming up and my cousin swears I'm going to be hooked once harvesting time comes around. I tried growing garlic last year and failed, so I am really excited to experience it this year. I will admit, to me, garlic is a pain in the rear to cut up (I usually use my food processor because I despise it so much), or I buy the garlic that is already chopped in a can. I know, gross. But I don't enjoy the sticky hands and the little amount you get from one clove! All of this to say, I am already enjoying watching the garlic come up, and I think after harvesting my own, all the sticky garlic-y hands will be worth it!
Our animals on the farm are fluttering around appreciating this beautiful weather just as much as we are. The kittens in the barn are warming up to us crazy humans, and venturing out of the tack room where they usually stay. We named the kitten in the above photo Grandma (Granny, G-ma, Grandma Lewis, Lovey) and I think she has stolen our hearts. We didn't plan on keeping any of the kittens this spring, but here I am, head over heels...again. The horses and cows are majestically running through their pastures, as if it's a brand new home for them. The chickens are anxiously awaiting their new home in the forest, which we hope to complete soon. And the goats, don't get me started on the goats.
Clearly they did not make babies as soon as we thought they did, because neither of our does have had their kids. My mama belly just hurts for our girl Gretta. Every day I look at her and swear she is going to have her babies at any moment. And every morning I wake up and no babies. She is truly keeping me on my toes! A blessing in disguise though, because we have plenty of work to keep us busy on the farm right now, and adding in milking morning and night is going to cause us to set our alarms much earlier! I'll relish in my sleep now and respect her timing. Although we can't WAIT to have fresh goats milk in the fridge again!
We've been spending every moment, every meal we can outside. And when we're not outside, we are inside preparing our seedlings for the season ahead. My (inside) house already looks like its full blown summer (when we're always outside, the inside gets pretty neglected), so during the rainy days of spring you can find me catching up on the household tasks, starting seeds, and making bread. It's a beautiful season folks. And it truthfully might be my new favorite time of year.
-Sydney