We had such a busy weekend, the good kind of busy! We got a ton of big tasks accomplished around here, and now our little garden areas are just about ready for planting. There’s a few freezing nights early this week, and then some clear(er) days – shooting to get some more plants/seeds in the ground.

We ordered a new quail cage from Wynola Ranch to help with breeding and egg collecting. With a little engineering, we’ve made it work for our little space. It features egg roll out trays, an automatic watering system, and dropping trays to catch all the fertilizer. 🙂 Biggest plus for me is that I don’t have to bend over to gather eggs and fill feed anymore – with my growing belly getting in the way it’s become near impossible. Now egg collecting and packaging is a much cleaner affair, and our eggs for incubating will be ready to go.

Clark also built us a really cool sign to put out by the road advertising eggs and plant starts when we have them. I get to finish painting it this week! Something about a cute farm sign… I’m a sucker for marketing. I’m hoping that will help get some more eggs sold, as our girls are quickly over-laying our eating capacity each day.

We prepared three new garden beds this year, and Clark built them all for me. He’s a trooper. 🙂 I ended up having to transplant my early cabbages and broccoli because they happily outgrew their starter pots. We had pretty crazy rain and then a 28°F night – as much as I didn’t want them to shock, they’d been hardened off for over a week and their roots were taking over the tray. We tucked them in with some row covers and they all look perky and happy this morning. Crisis averted!

Gardening in the spring is a bit crazy.

This week it looks like it might dry out a bit, and I’m hoping to get our potatoes and some lettuces in the ground before we get another downpour. I sowed cool weather seeds a little over two weeks ago, and they are just now starting to come up. They are going to be strong little guys to make it through this wild weather.

Clark was also on farm duty helping Dave get the pastures fertilized. He got to drive his favorite tractor around spreading manure. It’s the little things 🙂 Who knew we’d find enjoyment in things like fertilizing and making compost!

Freezing rain and wind always makes me want comfort – chocolate and brown sugar, cinnamon, rich browned butter. I have way too many baking ingredients and basically threw a bunch of different mix-ins into the batter. Clark actually ate a couple, and packed some in his lunch! (He never eats my desserts, he’s a weirdo..) Couldn’t believe it…. but, they are pretty good.