Double Oak Farm

The warm weather is finally here. A week ago we still had lows in the teens, so this 70 degree weather is a real treat. It feels downright hot. And with all the spring work that needs to be done, the blog has suffered from lack of attention.

This past week brought a chorus of love songs from the spring peepers. It is a magical night every spring when they first start singing. I could have listened to them all night. This week also brought the asian lady bugs out of hibernation. Every fall our house and barn are overrun with hundreds of these biting ladybugs as they look for a place to spend the winter. We vacuum them up by the hundreds. Every spring the few that escaped emerge and fly around the house like mad, trying to find a way out. They also seem to be thirsty as we often find them in drinks and sinks and the tea pot. I go through more cups on tea in a day than I care to count starting with a good Irish Breakfast and moving on to herbal teas in the afternoon. Nothing ruins a cup a tea more than a couple of boiled ladybugs.  And if you don’t actually see them, you can’t miss the terrible taste. So a new spring ritual is to rinse out the tea pot before each cup.

Yesterday Tim tilled my small garden by the barn. It always warms up first and stays warm in the micro-climate created by the barn. Today I planted some early spring crops: spinach, lettuce, turnips, swiss chard and beets. I’m waiting to plant radishes since they are ready so quickly. It was such a pleasure to smell the warm earth as we dug the beds. Planting seeds is an act of pure hope. Burying these hard little pebbles in the ground and expecting a vibrant nourishing plant to emerge. There is something miraculous about the process that brings me pure joy. It was also a pleasure to have the help of Tim and our daughter. It made the work lighter and happier.

I spent a good deal of time cleaning up the berry beds. I’m afraid we probably lost all the strawberries to the chickens. We let them free range every afternoon and they really enjoyed the mulch on the strawberries. There won’t be many left so we’ll have to decide wether to replant of not. Many of our Amish growers will have strawberries so we may wait until next year.

Tonight I noticed the bats are out and looking for insects. We aren’t supposed to have a night below freezing for at least 10 days so I expect to see more signs of spring each day. The problem will come when we do get a freeze. This warm weather will coax all the plants into blossom and a freeze will be devastating to the fruit harvest. But I won’t worry too much, I’m going to enjoy the warmth while it lasts.