A month ago in the gardens…

Today in the gardens…

…the garlic is growing…and growing…and growing…

It seems there are so many reasons to love being outdoors right now!  Every morning, when I go to do my morning farm chores, I walk through my garden to see what has stretched upwards overnight.  Green tendrils of peas are reaching upwards, stiff garlic leaves shoot for the sky, wide umbrella leaves of rhubarb unfurl overnight, and our second year of asparagus are thrusting emerald spears through the earthen barrier.

We have turned the corner on winter and said farewell.  My husband is a little sad to put the wintry season in the mountains behind him, but I am truly delighted for warmer days, even if the nights are still cool and damp.

Last month we mucked out our sheep barn and piled it in a heap to compost before we spread it over the garden beds.  It is a thing of beauty, this massive pile of rotting sheep poop…and I am aware that I run the risk of sounding a wee bit crazy.  However, I am also a person who is tickled to get a rake for Valentine’s Day from my honey!

We all piled around the mound of muck and once we shoveled off a load or two, the incredible steam rising from within proved that garden magic was afoot!  We took turns holding our hands over the hole we created, and you can easily feel the heat rapidly warm up your fingers.  Nevermind the stench of ammonia, this pile was obviously hard at work turning poop into gold!

Every April, it is always a wonder that we find our first morels when the nettle patch by our creek is exploding with foot tall stinging leaves.  For dinner, we ate tender, delicious nettles lightly steamed with a little garlic, butter and salt…with some exquisite freshly foraged morels, gently sauteed.  Never is there a more nutritious meal after a long winter!  We are so fortunate to have a long nettle season of at least a few weeks…enough time to make Spring Pie, nettle soup, more steamed nettles, with enough left over to dry for a good iron/calcium boost in winter soups.

our pregnant ewes are also happy to be sampling spring greens

All the primroses, pansies, hyacinths, tulips…and now daffodils, have officially declared that we have entered fragrant bouquet season.  With my 7 year old daughter sharing my passion for arranging freshly picked blossoms, it is yet another favourite reason to love springtime!

Wishing you all a weekend full of blossoms and other reasons to love springtime!

xo Jules