March!

Good morning from an odd start to the day in March. Right now there are flurries slowly falling in the wind, the sun is peaking through fast-moving clouds, and patches of grass are visible around the mud and ice on the lawn. The past few days have been a real change in the weather (and attitude) around here!

Sunday was so beautiful, sunny and in the 60s! The town was ALIVE with people bustling about, grateful to be comfortable outdoors for the first time since late Autumn. I met a friend in town for a kombucha at the brewery, she treated me and it was so nice to sit at a table and chat. Just simply walking along the sunny sidewalks, avoiding slush and feeling enough light to cause a mild sunburn was like a shot of adrenaline. I came home from that trip into town and ran my first 5k outside of the year! I had a sore butt the next morning from pumping up those hills like the velcro-covered bear I am when I run, but I did it! It felt like I won something. In a way I did. Spring! At the end of February I was able to make the January mortgage payment and so far this month I’ve managed some bills, too. Right now things are tight and sales are slower than ever, but I remain diligent and frugal as I need to be to make it through another month. Slowly I’ll earn what I need to appease the bank again, and in the meantime I have lettuce starts already sprouting in the windowsill and talked with my neighbors Kate and Andrew about ordering some chicks to add some life to the farmhouse. I’ve spoke with Dave, my pig breeder, about this year’s piglets and the shearing and farrier appointments are made. I’ll need to order another round bale today from the Dixsons and if at all possible, see if I can bribe Mark and Patty with another angel food cake to cut some dead wood near the house for firewood to get through spring. It’s not cold enough to need it all the time now. In fact, this morning the windows are open and the fire isn’t lit because it was 55 degrees INDOORS when I walked downstairs this morning and while to some of you that may seem cold that is AMAZINGLY WARM for a house with a fire that went out at 11PM the night before! These are all signs of spring! The farm looks scrappy now, more so than usual. But another growing season will be here before I know it. There’s so much outdoor clean up to do, and soon piglets will be rooting around the barnyard again and chicks will fill the brooders. But right now, it’s the flurries-falling-on-grass kind of early spring vibe and I will gladly take it!