Old-Fashioned Kid Fun

Today my kids were entertaining themselves the way kids have for generations: mud pies, sword-fighting with sticks, and running and yelling outside. Throw in a visit to grandma's house, seeing grandpa's new heifers, and getting an egg from underneath a hen, and I think they had a good day.

I have to admit I hardly ever let them play in the mud:


But they were mixing up little buckets of mud and having such fun. They were picking quantities of dandelions, too. It was some involved operation, whatever they were making. I just had to shrug and say, "Those aren't nice pants anyway. And they're outside."

Well, my older daughter was dressed nicely, but she's more careful and she was wearing dark colors. She was looking a little Laura Ingalls today, actually, with her braids, brown plaid dress, and dark tights.



Here is a bit of the stick-waving:

Discoveries

I went out today to take pictures of the turtles that like to sit on the old fence posts that hang over our pond. There were three in a row on one post, but they were worried about me, so I didn't get a picture of all of them. They dropped into the water one at a time, before I could get very close.




On my way there, I discovered what I think must be wild strawberries:



Don't they look like strawberry plants? Tell if you don't think so. But I know wild strawberries can grow around here. I love discovering things like this.

Then on my way back, what do I find? A big cluster of violets!


I love spring.

I went looking for wild asparagus next, but no luck. I did find something I couldn't identify. The leaves and stems look a little bit like rhubarb when it first comes up, but it had little daisy-like flowers. Any ideas?

Springier and Springier

I went out in our woods the other day and along the edge of the pond. Things are getting greener!






Some things are blooming, though nothing stunning:



The tiny maple tree we planted (thank you Arbor Day at school) on the edge of the woods last year has leafed out. It survived the winter!

Tulips

My tulips are blooming!





I adore tulips, so I'm thrilled.

I actually put my flower garden over the septic tank, to try to beautify that part of the yard and cover up all those little white posts. The benefit of it is that some of my plants came up and bloomed early from the warmth underneath! My other tulips are in a colder spot within the same garden, and they're not close to blooming yet.

I weeded that whole garden yesterday, removed the dead stems from last fall, planted herb and flower seeds, and spread mulch. I'll need a little more mulch, but it looks much better.



All of the other perennials are coming up now. I'm sorry to say that I don't even remember what some of them are!

Gardening Fashion

Dear reader, I'm sorry I haven't posted anything in so long. I've been busy, and unfortunately it hasn't been with gardening. But tonight I planted my broccoli, lettuce, peas and onions. I also watered the strawberry plants I planted on Thursday evening.

This is me, all set to go:



I have the cutest tool belt ever; it's really a gardening apron that my mom gave me:



And I think Jennifer from Jennifer's Junky Life would like my Wellingtons. I got them from Target last year when my new driveway was horrible in the spring and I had to walk down to the road for the school bus. Now I find out that Wellies are fashionable - who knew?



My daughter actually took some pictures of me planting tonight:

Clean Up

I just spent the evening cleaning out my vegetable garden. And I am so tired. But the weather is gorgeous, and I've recovered enough from a bout of a stomach virus to have some strength again. So I worked hard to get it done.

I didn't get everything cleaned out of it last fall. It was my... erosion control plan? Okay, it was no plan at all. It was just because I was trying to get too many things done in November while the weather was unseasonably warm. Then the bottom dropped out and it was suddenly winter. I never saw my pumpkin vines all winter, because we always had snow. But now it's time to get ready to plant.

My wee one helped me at first.



But it was many wheelbarrows-full, so she joined her sister to play in the dirt.



And she made a sign spelled out with tiny rocks.



I got it done, as done as I think I need to before it gets some kind of digger run through it.


Then I looked in the woods just a bit. Leaves on some of the bushes are just opening up. And something, I don't know what it is, looks like it's about to flower!

The Old Road in Spring

I was out on the old road with my husband this past Saturday. It doesn't look much like spring yet, other than that the snow is all gone. But that's how it starts, and it will take a good rain to green things up.



But the pond is open. We've had frequent duck and goose visitors, and the turtles just emerged to sun themselves on the old fence posts that hang over the pond. I've got to get a picture of them; I think they're adorable.



And there are buds about to open.



But most of what's green is weeds.



And moss.



The moss is cool, though. I'm just waiting for some violets.

Easter's On Its Way

Today we colored eggs. I like to do it the basic, old-fashioned way: food coloring with vinegar and boiling water. I've never used a Paas kit and I have no inclination to. This year we got slightly adventurous and tried putting rubber bands on a couple of the eggs.



But mostly, it's just a pleasure for kids to set the eggs in the cups of colored water and baste them and turn them until they reach the desired color.




Sometimes it's fun to make them two-toned:





However you do it, and even if it's a little messy, coloring eggs is so fun.



Thanks to Jo for being our photographer today!

Peonies!

My peonies are up!



Yes, I mean the teensy red sprout. I have a few of them.

The cold winter didn't kill them. Hallelujah. They were transplanted from my sister-in-law's garden. We had transplanted some of them to our old place years ago and loved them, but left those behind. We're going to be so glad to have some familiar flowers. It will probably take a few years for them to bloom, but I am really glad they survived that first winter.

My chives are also up:


They look a bit anemic because they were entirely covered with mulch. And, wow, I already need to weed!

The tulips are coming along nicely:

Spring Has Sprung!

A batch of my tulips has come up!



Last fall I put in two clusters of tulip bulbs after the ground was partially frozen. I was too busy until then. So I was out there in the cold with a bulb bit on my husband's drill, drilling holes in the ground and dropping in bulbs. That worked pretty well, actually, but it was work. I hoped they'd actually come up and not get eaten over the winter. So far, so good! We'll see if the deer find the green sprouts to be a nice salad, though.

I have two perennials coming up, too.

One was given to me by a neighbor; I think it's geranium/cranesbill. The other was given to me by my sister-in-law; it's butterfly bush or something like that. Both plants were divided from their gardens.

I've Seen Spring

It seems to be barely beginning here, but it's in full swing in Missouri:

We drove through an area in southern Iowa where there is an Amish community. We often see buggies there, and we weren't disappointed; we saw three.

Too early for the horse-drawn plows to be out, though.

We saw three museums on the University of Missouri campus. One was a room of plaster casts of ancient Greek statues:

We also saw their art museum, full of original artworks and artifacts from ancient Egypt to the current day. And we went to the department of anthropology's displays.

I really liked seeing the beautiful old buildings on the Mizzou campus:



Thomas Jefferson's original gravestone is there:


We also saw the library, which was hosting a display of rare books relating to Charles Darwin and earlier attempts to catalog and classify all of the animal species known.