MARCH DAWNED WARM and sunny and ended the same way, but in between we had frequent bouts of snow and cold weather. (I guess that’s why wonderful garden blogger Jodi DeLong calls the month Farch.)
In other words, Mom Nature in her infinite wisdom sent us frequent reminders that outdoor weather is on its way, but did not in fact allow much outside activity. Thus were we stirred from slumber—if not gently, at least in stages. Mother Nature: Inventor of the Snooze Button.
The critters are getting busy, for sure. We've seen a baby beaver (possibly a muskrat, but I'm going with beaver), a large American mink (fur still on the original owner), many deer, and lots of new birds. The squirrels are chasing each other, the goldfinches are sporting yellow feathers, and birdsong is loud and boisterous--nookie time is here.
Around the farmhouse, we began to apply ourselves to various chores. While I worked on Web projects, hoping to get them running before gardening season arrives, Tim undertook a desperately needed home-decorating project: fixing up the room that my parents had used as a dining room.
Time out for some backstory: When my parents bought this place in the early 1970s, the old farmhouse, built in the 1930s, was little more than a shell. They spent summers up here for about a decade, fixing the place up, doing the work themselves with the help of neighbors and local handymen. In the early 1980s, my dad retired from his job as a university professor, and they moved up here. (My intrepid parents did all the moving themselves, too—hauling all their possessions, including a painting that’s about 5 feet by 5 feet—here by making repeated trips in their blue Ford van.) By the time dad died in 1993, however, the place was already starting to show its age; the years from ’93 to 2000, during which my mom lived here alone and in declining health, were even less kind. All of which is to say that when I arrived here in 2002, the house needed work. I’ve been slowly picking away at these jobs as money and time allows, but the going has been slow. These tasks have been progressing faster since Tim came to visit, however. Let’s hear it for Tim!
For a photo of the work done on this room so far, see the Web album for April 1, 2007. For evidence of at least part of my Web work, see the gardening blog, which acquired quite a few new entries in March. For those who would like to start blogging, there's introductory material on the tech blog. And don't forget the food blog: There you'll find a new recipe and a funny story.
An Update on Goats: Goats have quite a fan club. After I mentioned The Goat Question (whether to have them or not, that is) in last month’s post, I was surprised at how many people wrote to tell me about their experiences. (I was even more surprised to learn how many people have owned goats!) The mail was entirely favorable: Goats are universally regarded as smart and enjoyable companions. Unfortunately, everyone who wrote to me is a former goat owner. Nothing against goats themselves: The problem seems to be the difficulty of providing them with adequate living quarters. Then I found out that the dairy goats Joe has tentatively lined up for me are probably not the best breed for someone interested in keeping goats as pets. Sad to say, I’m probably going to pass on Joe’s goats and wait until I can afford to buy some miniature goats and build the fences that are required to keep them from roaming away. This is only a minor setback in my Neverending Quest for Barnyard Animals, however: Now I'm looking for someone who will sell me a rare breed of ducks.
Update on Trees: Thanks to the generosity of “The Tree Guy,” Charlie Baird, the bottom of my refrigerator now contains a plastic bag in which can be found a bundle of hybrid poplar cuttings wrapped in wet burlap. I called Charlie to ask him whether he’d sell me hybrid poplars, and instead he offered to give me the cuttings for nothing. I’ll stick them in a nursery bed as soon as the soil is warm enough, and with any luck they'll take root. By next year I’ll have young poplar trees several feet high (hybrid poplars grow blazingly fast) to plant out in one of my fields. In just a few years (3-10, depending on who's talking), I may be able to start providing my own firewood. In the meantime, at least I'm storing carbon. Charlie, thanks--I'll be back to buy native trees from you in another month or so.
