Finally, spring is here...or wait, is it summer?

Managed to get all 14 types of tomatoes planted on Sunday night only to have a frost Monday night. I about cried this morning when I went out to water because I have lost about 1/4 of the plants I put in. I'm tempted to plant some seeds to replace the plants that died - especially since it looks like all the pink vernissage plants are all dead and most of the pink icicles are as well. Sigh.

I started digging out the second row of beds. It's going faster this time around, but it's been in the high 80s for the past two days so too hot during the afternoon for me to head out. Plus, I can't be out in the sun for very long. I'll be out there tonight digging out some more so I can get those 20 bags of compost out of the truck and into the beds. I still have three types of peppers, two types of cauliflower, two types of cabbage, and some brussels sprouts to plant outside AND I have to get the beet, carrots, beans, peas, melons, and pumpkin seeds planted. Meanwhile, the bed with the potatoes is doing wonderfully! I keep mounding the dirt up around the green leaves and the green leave keep growing higher! I hope there's lots of tuber action going on in there.

Outside today, I saw a deer running along the road across the street as I waited with the kids for the bus this morning. A little frog hop away from me near the little composter and a lizard hid from me under the house near the steps up to the porch. A rabbit ran past the garden out in the woods - they haven't found the garden yet. A bird built her nest on top of my propane tank inside the little gauge cover and I heard babies in there.

The hogs all haven't figured out how to use the waterer yet. This one (Bacon) has; which is why he looks so smug taking a dip in the water trough. It's funny but nasty at the same time. The water gets so gross and yet if they just would go on over to the waterer and nudge the flap that opens the water valve, they'd all have fresh water.

So I got some hog nipples; they are like the chicken nipples I picked up only much bigger! There's a farm swap on Sunday in Midlothian, VA and the man from whom I bought the first water barrel is going to be there. I'm going to get another barrel and use the nipples on this one. Hopefully the dumb hogs figure out how to get a drink.

Finished up in the kitchen finally! I got a piece of barn wood trimmed to fit and covered it with some poly. I love how it looks and the color picks up the counter. So much better than it was! The only thing left to do is paint the trim white; it's white already but it's old and crappy looking. I'll just use the paint I have leftover from painting the cabinets.


Finally, we have irises all over the farm - most are in shades of purple. We have dark, deep purple, and light lilac and lavender colors. There's even one that's white with dark purple edges but I have never seen an iris in this red color. It's so unusual and it matches my hair color. :-)