March is marching in...

And March didn't come in like a lion, that had been February, not a good sign...spring had sprung a month early. However on the home-front, it was perfect, because we were getting a jump start on the house project, and I was ready for the garden to go in. Jason had purchased a single-bottom plow to make the first pass through the field where the garden would go. It ended up being so rocky that the plow broke. :(

We called a guy advertising garden tilling on craigslist and he came out a week later and finished the garden for us. It was well worth the expense, I believe we paid $300. This was a "virgin" garden, so Shannon & I had to get out there every day and pick rocks and pull out the big clumps of grass, so it wouldn't reseed as weeds in the garden.

We placed the garden on the north side of our cabin, far enough away so it wouldn't get shaded until the very end of the day. It seemed like a good spot. I hauled many wheelbarrow loads of horse manure and dumped it on the garden, and eventually Jason and the boys took turns tilling it in with the walk-behind tiller.

The garden measured 35' x 60' or so. Hopefully enough room for everything. The seeds came out for early spring crops (it was already in the 70s most days, and soaring into the mid 80s on others).

The garden was tilled up quite nicely and just in time, too, because the next several weeks saw Shannon & I busy with our new chicks and ducklings that had arrived the end of March!

Shannon got 15 Buff Brahmas, I chose 10 Light Brahmas and 15 ducklings...Welsh Harlequins and Rouen

Chicks and ducklings grow quickly, eat a LOT, drink a LOT, and poop a lot. Ducklings are also notoriously messy! Their brooder needed to be cleaned every other day because their bedding would get soaking wet and stink. When the cage needed to be cleaned the ducklings came inside and played in the bath tub while we cleaned and changed the bedding. Then we'd dry them off and take them back to the barn.

It wasn't long until the ducklings were big enough to move to our portable cage. It's the end of April now and the temps are in the mid to high 80s nearly every day! Farmers Market has started and we'd sold several tomato plants.