The First Day of Spring

This is definitely one of my favorite days of the year. Its so nice to have winter but by the time March rolls around I am ready to move on. I am tired of being cold and I need to get outside and dig. Mr Ladybug was off last Thursday-Sunday and thats exactly what we did. The peas, onions, lettuce and radishes have all been planted. The potatoes are chitting, that just means they are growing those eye thingys. The chickens are laying at least 3 eggs a day not each but out of the 6 we have 3 are laying each day. The bees are out everyday unless its raining and bringing in lots of pollen. I apologize to all you allergy sufferers but the pollen is out there.

I have still been focusing on Lent just keeping it personal. I think Spring is perfect time for anyone to reevaluate things and start making goals to move forward. Thats about as deep as I am going to get with this post today.

With the first day of Spring comes the start of my Big Year. I am pretty sure I talked about a big year this time last year. In case you missed that one a big year is where you try to view and document more birds than you ever have before. I am pretty sure last year was our biggest year and we didnt even try that hard. So this year we are going to try for more and keep a better record. That crafting project will come later.

Top left is a female downy woodpecker, top right is a dark eyed junco, this little one will not be here much longer. They visit here for the winter and then head back north. Bottom left is a red breasted nuthatch, bottom middle is a common grackle and a common nuisance as is the bottom right starling. 

There are so many exciting new things going on its hard to know where to start. Here are a list of some things to be expecting in the coming days, weeks and months......

Our second child is graduating from college at the end of May. Seriously, where did the time go?

Mr Ladybug and I purchased a Kitchenaid mixer, pasta maker and meat grinder. We are so in love with it. I have made desserts, pizza dough and pasta in the 3 days I have had it.

We will be starting a garden at my moms little farm.  We will be headed down there this weekend to start planning and getting her ready for her own chickens. We are also going to check out all the trees on her land and hope to harvest enough maple syrup next year to last us all year. We may even try to sell some of you are willing to pay $200 a pint. Thats not even a joke its hard work folks. Buy local syrup and hug your supplier for their very reasonable prices.

I am hoping to have some things for sale and classes getting started.

We are really trying to eat better and so lots of new recipes hitting the blog.

Our second hive will be getting started a month from today too. Mr Ladybug is going to work on learning to make another hive from our bees this year to put down at my mommas next year. You can never have too much honey.

I am sure there will be many more thing pop up and we can not wait. Spring has sprung!