"Firsts"

Spring is the season of life, and with it, many firsts. The last few weeks have been filled with firsts: the first shearing of rabbits, the first hoof trimming, the first of learning vet skills and giving immunizations, the first summer garden planting, the first of successful sales, lots of firsts. This is the year we begin our journey of farm life in full. It is sometimes painful (oh, those aching muscles) and sometimes joyful, but it is ours.

Our spring gardens have been in full harvest: chard, spinach, carrots, cauliflower, and other tasty delectables.The summer gardens are already beginning to produce the first summer fruit and veggies. We already have the first signs of peppers, eggplant, potatoes, grapes and, of course my favorite, tomatoes! Mmm, the most challenging aspect of so many firsts is waiting, waiting for that first tomato to ripen for the evening salad!

April showers...

...bring May flowers; or so the saying goes. The abundance of rain this winter and spring has left its mark. The hills are covered in a rich velvet of green, marred only with the yellows, purples, and oranges of wild flowers. I love spring in California country! It has been a long time since we have seen so much color, too long! I always love the rainy winter, but I love the colors and scents of spring even more.

But May brings more than just scenic pastures and rolling green hillsides. Early May is planting month for all of those mouth-watering summer fruits and veggies. Sure, we could have planted earlier, but California's weather is a little too persnickety in the spring, and a great harvest is well worth the wait. We have re-vamped the primary gardens, and our greenhouse over-flows with seedlings ready for the ground. Even the vigionier cuttings took root! The list this year is extensive: tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, pumpkins, watermelon, cantaloupe, cucumbers, carrots, zucchini, soybeans, favabeans, corn, winter squash, green beans, and asparagus. That doesn't even include the square foot garden beds, vineyard, or greenhouse! Every nook and cranny is planned and accounted for this year. I'm starting to worry we will have planted too much food; oh, what a horrid problem to have!