a new season

It's time to begin hardening off the seedlings. On the banner you see: two types of lettuce, spinach, kale, leeks, and yellow and red onions having their first exposure to direct sun. They're up from under the basement grow lights living in the burlap covered mini green houses on the back deck for a week already. A little more sun each day and then into the ground.
The snapdragons moved to the outside yesterday. They won't go into the ground for a while, but they'll get strong and stocky outside.

It's a raw, damp, breezy day here today. That means time to catch up with my blog!
The last of our late March snow slipped away on April first and since then we've been outdoors as much as possible.
The orchard got pruned and fertilized, the mulch around the trunks of the fruit trees weeded and primped a bit. The rabbit guard "leggings" removed for the season. I have a lovely arrangement of tip cuttings on the dining room table, beginning to sprout and bring cheer.

Though cold and windy on Good Friday, the ground was perfect for digging and so we set about removing and transplanting nearly three dozen pines. They were little volunteers clustered together on our "agricultural rights" property, too close together to ultimately grow well, and just the right size for moving. When we planned the renovation of the acre we purchased in 2013, we wanted a wind break and also a bit of protection from the commercial field along our new eastern border. We will plant a second row after we truck in a bit more topsoil. For now, Jerome and I are just over the moon for being able to tackle this much of the job on our own. It took us two afternoons, and additional several hours of mowing.

I just love walking along the row, caressing each little baby as I go...

Our local True Value, Nelson's Agri-center, has an annual sales event in March each year. Jerome brilliantly purchased many useful items during the sale. Here is one we can't now image ever having done without.

A bit tricky to assemble but his little cart goes anywhere the riding mower will pull it and I can easily push it into the garage by myself. Here Jerome is toting water to the newly planted trees.
Is there anything more pleasant than working with your partner hand in hand with the land???