Hopeful for Signs of Spring

All week it has been feeling really nice and spring-like. Every morning I woke up to the sun shining in through the big windows all around the farmhouse, with birds chirping outside and no cool wind making it’s way across the field. For a second I almost thought spring had decided to come early…

…and then this morning I woke up to this. Freezing rain covering the whole house with a layer of wet snow on top. I’ll admit that seeing our big white house surrounded by snow is a beautiful sight, but I sure do miss how it looked covered in blooms during the summer.

Before the snow showed up today, we were starting to see little sprouts of something coming up in the front flower bed. In another month’s time I hope that we’ll see more signs of spring emerging around the yard. I know we’ve been very fortunate to have a milder winter this year, but I still am longing for the spring. With it will come flowers, birds, sunshine…and the arrival of our baby!

The chickens are ready for spring too. Red Star (also known as Red Sex-Link) Chickens are known as a hardier cold weather breed, so the winter doesn’t seem to bother them too much, but I would still like to see them get out into the big run more often.

Any day that isn’t dangerously cold, we let them out for at least an hour or two in the larger fenced in area. We’ll sprinkle cracked corn in there or toss some lettuce heads to give them something to do. It’s not uncommon to find them basking in the winter sun against the wind break Garrett made. They’re even happy to go out in the snow and peck around a bit.

With the addition of their coop light this fall, we’ve still been getting a steady egg production of 3-4 eggs every morning. Garrett insulated the nesting boxes too, so even on the coldest days the eggs (and the hens) don’t freeze. In all the eggs we’ve collected this winter, we’ve only had two that froze and both times was when we missed the final egg being laid until the next morning. Not too bad!

Another sign that spring needs to get here soon, is that we’ve opened the very last jar of the wild blueberry jam my mother made last summer. It makes me long for all the great Ontario summer produce we enjoy in the summer.

The nicer weather last week also convinced me to get out and see some friends. It’s so easy to get into hibernation mode in the winter months, so I was glad when a group of girlfriends decided to meet up last weekend at Clay Design in Toronto and paint some pottery together.

The studio allows you to either make your own pottery pieces in a class (like these folks) or paint pre-made pieces like cups, plates and piggy banks.

We caught up on how everyone’s been for the last few months, while painting pieces that will be fired in the kiln for everyone to pick up later. I chose this yarn bowl (something that I’ve always admired on Etsy shops) to use for future craft projects next fall. I don’t imagine I’ll be getting much knitting done between now and then with more house (and baby) projects in the works for the next six months, but I’ll be glad to have it ready when I do pick up the needles again!

What are you looking forward to the most about spring coming? Easter is early this year, so it’s only a month away now. It’ll be here sooner than we think!