1st week of May 2007

The sunshine has made working outdoors and planting very pleasurable this week. Peas are peeking through and needing fences soon and lettuce transplants are going in the ground by the hundreds. I'm also trying to start some summer crops (zucchini, cukes, beans) under my half barrel greenhouses that we salvaged from the neighbor. Barrel hot houses A special treat has been to celebrate a day of hard work by relaxing around the campfire.

Another pleasure of being outdoors is the symphony of birds that accompanies our work. The mockingbirds often entertain us with their constantly changing song in the garden. On a recent walk to the woods we were serenaded by bobolinks, meadowlarks and red-winged blackbirds and checked the duck nest on the bank filled with 11 eggs. It will be exciting to see if ducklings hatch though we are a bit concerned about the raccoon tracks nearby. The barn swallows have returned and are busy building nests in the rafters of the barn. The other fowl that keeps us entertained is the neighborhood peacock who spends his time fanning his gorgeous tail for the chickens.

We had the pleasure of taking baby lambs to the Children's Garden at the Wooster Home and Garden Show over the weekend. (You can see us on the front page of the April 29 Daily Record.) Many children enjoyed petting them and asking questions about them. We were quite amused by one little boy who called them baby camels! I guess that is incentive to continue our mission of finding opportunities to do agri-education.

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