The Beauty of a Story

March is here, the busy season of outdoor projects commences.

Though here in Western Colorado we have the possibility of frost for another month or two, it is still spring. The birds are twittering about it, the apricot trees are blooming, and a few flowers are pushing their heads up towards the sun.

I am having a bit of a hard time shaking off the winter slumber. I am not motivated yet to get outside and do all the things required to make the growing season go smoothly. But the weather waits for no man, and it is time to get busy.

The first thing on our list is getting the fruit trees trimmed. This is mostly my mother-in-laws job. She is pruning trees that haven’t seen shears in a decade in hopes that we will actually have a fruit harvest this year. Last years was abysmal. In her trimming, she realized we have as many apple trees as we could ever hope for, an apricot tree, and plum bushes. Woohoo! I happily accede the job to her, considering I have never trimmed a fruit tree before and wouldn’t know where to start. My job is clean up, the little piles of trimmings and branches all over the property need to be picked up and put in one burn pile (don’t worry, we do burn with a permit). Then we have one big bonfire, hopefully starring marshmallows, and get the property a little less shabby looking.

Another big task of early spring is getting our garden ready to go. We are doing raised beds this year, and they are still piles of cinder block instead of beds… Plants will go in the ground in a month and half (ish), and we need to hustle just a little bit. I say we, but this is mostly my husbands job and my father-in-laws job. They build the beds, we (my mother-in-law and I) plant the beds and keep them watered and weeded. I like this deal, because it means I don’t have to haul cinder block around.

I am not starting any seeds this year. Not only is it busy season for the garden, but it is also busy season at work. I have less time and energy at the end of the day for babying seeds and hoping they all germinate. This year I will happily plant seedlings from the greenhouse, thank you very much.

Homesteading, or whatever it is we are doing, is less about doing all things all the time, and more about doing what we can, one step at a time. We aren’t going to jump in head first and get all of the animals and have a huge garden and plant a whole bunch of new trees. We don’t have the energy, the capacity, or the set up for it. It is better to do a little at a time and figure things out one step at a time. There is no race for who can get their property up and running the fastest. No prize for getting the most amount of animals in the shortest amount of time. Well, the prize is most likely overwhelm and burnout, both of which I would like to avoid. Instead, we will do things slowly, one year at a time, and take on the things we think we can manage properly.

Speaking of, there is one last task of early spring around here. Raising baby chicks! On Saturday we bought eight baby Barred Plymouth Rocks (I hope anyway) and are fumbling our way through raising them. These little babies are my responsibility. I am doing the research on all of their little ailments and how to keep them healthy. I never knew there were so many ways for a chick to die… Anyway. We have had them for less than a week, but they are already growing and getting feathers! Phew! I love watching them run around their little enclosure. I also love watching them sleep in little piles, it is the cutest thing you can possibly imagine.

Between fruit trees, the garden, and the chicks early spring is pretty full. And it will only get busier when it comes time to plant our seedlings. The long winter months are over and the long warm days are beginning again. I am excited to watch the baby chicks and the baby plants grow and mature over the coming months. That is, if we can finish our raised beds in time…

What is keeping you busy this spring?

Shaina Merrick