The weather has been good to us lately.  Sunny cool days and crisp nights with little frost, and only gentle rains rather than fierce storms.  It’s still a bit early to plant most of the garden, but it’s good weather for weeding.  As I weed, I can see the side of the barn and most of the east side of the pasture.  I’ve purchased a few plants in peat pots from a local organic farmer and they’re set out on the porch at night and under the shade of a maple tree during the day.  We’re going to move our garden sometime this year to a sunnier spot right in the back yard, in front of the pasture fencing.  We’d planted the garden way over in the side yard when we first moved here so that it wouldn’t be disturbed while we cleared land, and at the time it was sunnier there.  Turns out, not sunny enough! 

The oregano and garlic chive plants are huge already.  Every garden I’ve ever had has surprised me in the spring with something that has self-sowed from the year before.  So far this year I’ve found green onions (scallions) and lettuce plants.  I was happily surprised to find a few teeny carrots had survived last summer’s ‘deer attacks.’   As I continued weeding, there are a lot of carrots, and not all of them are teeny.  They’re all bright orange and solid, as a carrot should be.  I also found several small beets.  Here I am expecting to be getting the garden ready for planting, and I’m harvesting carrots and beets!  I can’t wait to roast them in olive oil with fresh oregano and garlic.  Maybe I'll save a couple carrots for snacks for the alpacas.