Spring came early

The view from my back porch

 Spring really seems to have arrived. The grass is long and lush and waving in a warm breeze. The goats are thrilled with all of the variety when they get to roam around. A mouthful of grass, the top of a juicy wild mustard plant, a few munches of the cedar tree, or some pear branches recently pruned off the trees...yeah, pretty much goat heaven.

Yummy

 Wild flowers are starting to bloom too. There seems to be some jasmine down the hill near the creek, I can't see it, but I sure can smell it. The hen-bit is blooming, there are tons of tiny purple flowers, about as big as a lady bug, which I can't seem to get a good picture of. Then there are some others that I have no idea what they are.

I don't know what it is, but it's cheerful

Lily is particularly fond of yellow flowers

 Some of the seedling are out in the garden. The artichokes, cabbage, spinach, parsnips, and salsify went out this weekend. I also planted carrots and decided where to put the okra (which is apparently giant, who knew?)

Parsnips are in the ground now

So is the salsify

The onions are growing slowly

The garlic is already 6-8 inches tall and growing like crazy

Cabbage

Artichoke

Marking carrot rows with sand

 Others are being hardened off so they can go out in the next week or so. This is the part that I often have a problem with. I can't even tell you how many times I've forgotten to bring plants in when it got too hot/cold/windy/rainy and killed my poor seedlings. 

Tomatoes are nearly ready to be transplanted

Spending some time on the porch

Getting ready for the garden

The lettuce will go in tomorrow

 Since the weather has been so nice the chicks have moved out to the brooder on the back porch. It gives them more room and gets them out of the house before the dust gets out of control.

The brooder

3 weeks age difference between the biggest and the smallest

 The fruit trees are showing signs of life. The pear trees that were here when we moved in are blooming up a storm and the trees we put in in the last couple of months are starting to get leaves. I know we won't get fruit from most of them for years but it's still exciting.

Pear tree

The bees love it

Apricot tree

Pomegranate tree

 I just have a couple more pictures today...

This is my friend, Carina, from middle school.

Carina

 This is her daughter Penny. She was diagnosed with cancer before she turned 2 years old. She was a tough little girl, she made it through all of her surgeries and chemo, things were looking good. Last week little Miss Penny had a doctor's appointment. The news wasn't good, she has relapsed. She's already started very aggressive treatment and is going to be dealing with a lot of side effects.  So I want my readers to send Penny and Carina good thoughts. If you pray (to whomever) please pray for them.

Miss Penny

Blessed be...