Spring is perpetually confused.
It’s raining for days or it’s not. It’s warm enough to coax you outside and then it starts hailing. You need sweaters in the morning and shorts by noon. And the wind, yikes. I swear it makes kids crazy. It’s the only time of year that I’m dressed for multiple weather changes at any given time. It’s when I happily put my black and grey winter clothes in the attic and get my black and grey spring clothes out.
Spring.
It’s not a gentle seasonal shift by any means but dang spring is magical. Such a very cool reminder about how awesome nature can be. And I definitely feel the shift in myself as I’m wanting to declutter, open windows (clean them too) and blow off some of the winter vibes in here.
We’ve got lots of green popping up outside, thanks to a friend who gave us a boatload of perennials last year. I can’t wait to see what comes up and truthfully I don’t even know what half of it is! We’re just starting to visualize how we might like more of the landscaping to look, now that we’ve got some of the bigger projects done inside the house.
And by done I mean, close to done but we’ll probably never have trim in my lifetime.
We’ve only lived here a few years and we’ve spent most of them focusing on the inside and all that entailed. There simply wasn’t the time, (or the energy, let’s be real) for any major outdoor projects. Now I find myself really itching to get a garden planted so I can dive head first into those homesteader-wanna-be goals I have for myself. I’ve been Pinteresting all sorts of cutting gardens and vegetable patches that will work with our space. We planted one lonely fruit tree last year and I’m really hoping to add to that this year. In the next few weeks we’ll be busy preparing some new beds for the growing season. I literally can’t wait!
Speaking of preparing, I’ve also been doing a lot of reading about how my little flock of ladies will (or will not) work in the garden patch. They do love to free range and I still want them to have the opportunity to do that, while also recognizing that they can destroy all the hard work we put into new gardens. Chickens don’t care about new seedlings. And they’ll dig a dust bath hole where ever they darn well please.
And poop. Oy vey. Chickens poop everywhere.
As part of our spring chore list, we cleaned out the coop last week. It was a full spring clean out where we removed all of the bedding inside the coop and the extra shavings in the run. The ladies were quite intrigued with our work and kept us company scratching away at the grass while we hauled off wheel barrows of bedding. It all goes in a compost pile that I’ve been adding to for the last few years. I’m hoping that this might be the first year I can use some of it in my garden beds!
We’ve also got some new additions coming to the Chick-Inn in the next few weeks. I finally talked The Mr. into building me a second smaller coop that I can use for new birds before I introduce them to the others. Pecking order is a real thing and chickens can be jerks to newcomers. At first I told him it would just be a temporary coop to use in the spring, but he knows and I know, that I’ll just use that to add more ladies to my flock. It’ll probably stay right where it is for the foreseeable future.
Chicken math. It’s also a thing.
While we wait for our new ladies to arrive we’ll take whatever spring weather comes our way. This gal is ready for all that spring has to offer. And since we’re having a slight reprieve in rain today, for the first time this week, I’m making a run for the coop to deliver treats and refill water bins.
Have a great week friends.
Renee xo
Baking a feta and cherry tomato sauce was a Tik Tok pasta trend that had millions of followers last year. I’m using the same idea but changing it up by using Boursin Garlic and Fine Herbs cheese, chicken and bacon pieces. It’s creamy and light tasting and so darn fast to make. I’ve made this into a larger batch which is perfect on busy weeknights when we want the leftovers for lunch. If you want a smaller batch, consider cutting the recipe in half. The next time you have leftover chicken save it for this recipe!
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