I know for sure that Spring is here: Thursday I caught my first glimpses of the redbud trees starting to blossom. I just love those beautiful trees. Dogwoods and Cottonwoods are also in bloom, and the quince bush is full of delicate, deep pink flowers. I finally got the time this weekend to work in the greenhouse and walk around the property taking some nice pictures of Spring in action.

Quite honestly, I feel like a bit of a fraud this season. My work at the clinic has been so crazy and all my spare time has been invested in helping to get my son’s new business off the ground (Abundance Mushroom Company: Everything you need for growing your own mushrooms at home, for the hobbyist or commercial grower). I never even had time to plant my seeds. Fortunately, a local greenhouse has beautiful starts at very reasonable prices, so I was able to plant a few tomatoes and peppers this weekend. We are going to experiment with growing a crop of corn in the greenhouse this year. Should be interestingl

Anyway, with the very real possibility of jumping into the housing market soon and with my lack of available time, it was decided that we would scale back on the planting this year. Herman is handling all the outdoor plants and I have been planning the greenhouse. The goal will be to have enough fresh produce without much extra for canning or preservation. I’m sure I will be dehydrating batches of veggies and canning some Cowboy Candy (sweet pickled jalepeno peppers–awesome on everything), but there will not be any marathon canning weekends at the Homestead this summer/fall. Anything more than we can use will be shared with neighbors, coworkers, and patients.

I hope you enjoy my pics. It was a lot of fun getting back out and enjoying watching Nature wake up after a long, cold, winter.