Some of the last of the Tulips are available this week! After they are gone, there will be a hiatus of a few weeks until the Lupine starts blooming...

...which they are working hard to get blooming as seen here in very early bud stage!

To prep for this weekends excursion, I got the old tent out to check I remembered how to put it up and sure enough it came back just like riding a bike and was up lickity split!

If you want to enjoy these beauties in your own garden, there are a few options available for the potted Ranunculus that are ready to go into the ground and start working on blooming these wonders (but if taking care of plants aren't your thing I'll have these in bouquets and bunches available in a few weeks to take home and enjoy with minimal effort on your part!)

On theses hot days, the hens dust bathe extra deep to get down to that cool damp earth to wriggle between all their feathers

One way I keep the plants healthy while they grow and recover from transplanting in my thick clay soil is to brew them some tea! I make a weekly batch of Compost Tea that gets sprayed onto the soil around their base or onto their leaves for some of the flowers that like to eat with their hands □

And if you needed some inspiration to eat your 'greens', just take a page outta Hella's book as she munches on some 'green's of her own

But when the heat gets just too much, there is nothing else to do but find a cool spot in the shade and settle in for a snooze

With all the rain the river is running high!

The rain also makes all the wormies, big and small, seek out drier spots, like under tarps, feed bowls, and chicken huts, as well as in the driveway!

That also means the hens are extra eager to get out and gobble up those worms

But when it's sunny and warm out and the worms are well underground, there is nothing left for a hen to do but bask in all that tummy-filled with worm glory!

Looks like someone had a whoopsie daisie in the wind the storm brought! This is the future farm stand and it is a sturdy thing! Once it gets topside up again, a few braces will help keep it that way

There are a variety of covers I use for many cops to protect them from the cold, but this one is new and it's for bugs! itty bitty flea beetles mainly which like to chomp on things like radishes, turnips, and arugula but this stretchy, finely woven mesh keeps them out!

Sometimes, especially with the Parrot Tulips, they grow a baby side shoot just above the bottom leaf. It's like a tiny extra flower for all the other creatures to enjoy!

The lilies are trying to outpace the weeds!

And Hella practices her best gargoyle pose next to the 'big rock' that has lived on the porch steps since we placed it there a few year ago. As soon as it was there, it was like it always was there and should never be moved.

It's the beginning of Tulip Season!

Tulips Season also means that Daffodil Season is almost gone so get them now or wait until next spring!

So many baby plants getting to grow in the big wide wild world!

While these perennial Columbines are getting ready to bloom like crazy. They have a mix of blue and purple flowers that look like clematis. I've got seeds available so you can grow your own !

The blazing sun means the shade cloths got thrown over the runs...

...so the hens can bask in the that cool coolness!

The tomatoes are enjoying their Dragon Dome home while they get ready to grow their juicy fruit!

This Thursday and Friday I'll have the first of the potted up Ranunculus ready for planting and future blooming!

Hella enjoys the tarps since both the Gophers and the Mice enjoy them too, so whenever I move them she is not far off!

A rare opportunity with a chilly companion to get an up close look while it warms itself from the deep cold of evening in the morning sun. I never noticed before that they are so furry!

When the sun shines and I have a full hand of blooms, I often lift them up to Jumbo Peak who I live in the literal shadow of in winter. But in spring and summer the sun is high enough to crest even it's impressive peak!

The Hummingbirds trickled in a few weeks ago with one lone Rufous, but now they are here in force! So out come all the feeders and a few new ones. I won't need to fill them full until the years hatchlings fledge but I'm prepared!!!

The little lettuces are growing!

A sight like this is both a signal for joy and a heavy sigh. It means I got a lot planted but now I need to clean them.

That's what happens when you tarp the grass! This will be a small expansion on the perennial plot for a few more rows of Peonies, maybe some Roses, and to have plenty of room for Tulips!

Stormy skies don't mean work stops, it only means you hurry (kinda like a yellow traffic light) until you hear the thunder - then you stop.

With it being so stormy some of the chickens decided it was better to stay inside...

...while others threw caution to the wind!

The Tulips are just beginning...

...while the Daffodils are in full swing!

And Hella watched all of the chicken commotion, weather drama, and human labor from her comfy cozy window seat

Just a little spring sunshine in petal form for you or someone special!

There are more following close behind! So many Daffodils about to pop.

And the Tulips are planning their takeover in a few weeks. First up will be my personal fav Akebono with it's golden petals that have just a hint of blush around the edges!

The Guineas have been roaming far and wide eating all sorts of things like ticks, worms, and grubs. Now I just have to watch for where their nest is so I can go in and raid it!

Riri is really giving that scratching her all!

The flowers are going into the soil in droves! This row has Cosmos, Calendula, Agrostemma, Silene, Poor Man's Orchid, Clarkia, and Feverfew. They can't handle the cool nights, so they got a low tunnel for cover just after I took cover from the sunshine and ate some lunch!

The Ranunculus got tucked into their mesh bottomed beds, aka sunken beds which protect their tasty corms from the hungry gophers, and a cover of hoop loops with frost fabric in case the hard frosts decide to strike again!

And not all the plants get to go outside, but each get a special place! I'll have some new special edition Cactus Globes available this week. Each glass globe can hang from a cord or sit on a windowsill to give it's tiny treasure of cacti and special finds a sunny spot to spend the day in.

The Drakes, male ducks, leave little favorite pebbles in the food or water bowls for their duckie hens. The hens don't do it when it's only them and the drakes don't do it if there are no hens around. So when I collect the food bowls every night, I drop the pebble back in the grass so they can 'gift' it to her again the next day.

The Cookie Monster has been assembled and it's almost time for it to start chipping up extra Alders to make some nice mulch!

Can you find all the hens on the grassy knoll? (Hint: they like to hide behind one another!)

The Tulips keep pushing up and the Daffodils are trying hard to be ready for the first markets! No promises!!!

The fruit trees are in! and just in time for the first little intrepid cherry blossom!

Hella inspected my planting work before she got a little too micro-managey and had to be put inside for the remainder so she could think about how her actions create consequences □

The earlier in the day I let the hens out, the wider they roam, even to become wild hens of the woods! I bet the bugs under that leaf litter are super tasty!

The hens also has a little visitor in a little white Ringed Turtle Dove that must have escaped from somewhere as they are a domestic variety. It had a rest day on the farm and then continued on it's merry way!

The Tomatoes have started going into their big beds in the Dragon Dome...

...even if it means standing room only for the rest of the seed flats. As more go out for planting more keep coming in from the germination attic to make way for the ones I keep seeding, so really I am doing this to myself. #plantlover or #planthorder? or just #farmer?

The hen huts have all been mobilized out on the pasture and get moved about weekly so they get fresh greens and grubs even if I can't let them out an evening.

With planting out comes the web of hoses that I manage day and night. I'll wait a few weeks before setting up the new drip/sprayer irrigation system (hopefully the really hard frosts will be over) but even then I need all these hoses to get the water there! Only I know where they all go and where they all come from mwahahaha

It's like Easter everyday!

The end of last week was so warm it was time to take the back vent off the dome so the plants wouldn't roast away as the temps topped 85F in there. On the To Do list this spring is to rebuild the vent so it doesn't require complete demolition each time it's gotta open!

I got some help with the painting. Do you think she knows the panels are for her future pasture-able hut? She is one of the barn hens that longs to follow in her comrades grassy foot steps!

And the other hens get cozy in that same in-progress hut. Maybe they are just inspecting to make sure it's up to code!

The Raspberries went in with a little help from my handy dandy dump cart and some well aged horse manure that's been moved around a few times as the whole pile of it kept being in the way. It's current home is as the hens' favorite hill to climb that is slowly becoming a grassy knoll, but I was able to get some good rich soil by sneaking in underneath!

After the icy snow was gone we got busy on the new Orchard fence! Posts are in and next we get to put up the wire before I can get my precious test fruit trees in!

The huts have gone mobile!!! And the hens enjoy checking out the old winter pads of their neighbors.

Underneath it's blanket of straw, the Garlic doesn't mind the cold nights and is stretching to the sky!

Hella's favorite time of the days are the lazy (for her) evenings where she can follow me around in the warm sun while I check that everything is set to survive until morning. She's my shadow who enjoys the moments when even she can cast a long shadow!

The seedlings, aka plant babies, get an easy start at life being pampered in a warm attic, under bright leds, in a space that is consistently warm and not windy.

So once they are big and strong, they still need some time to acclimate to temperature shifts, wind, and full uv spectrum sunlight. This means a few hours spent outside each day with increasing frequency until they are not only big and strong but also hardy!

A greenhouse full of hardy seedlings means it's time to get their beds ready for them to move in! This means some quality time spent raking and removing last years stalks and stems that were left to overwinter.

Leaving the landscape fabric down and the skeleton of the low tunnels up saves me a lot of time both setting up and taking down each year. And, leaving the plant material in until spring means I don't need to remove the landscape fabric and tunnel hoops and that the roots of those plants remain in the soil as a home and food for all the soil creatures, which means I see many more earthworms each spring than I do if I stripped it clean in the fall! Happy Soil = Happy Plant

Sometimes when removing spent plant material, you become a non-intentional seed collector! This is the Chinese Forget Me Nots which set seed easily and have seeds that are super grabby to any fabric, hair, or fur.

The hens enjoy their tiny mountain that has become a rodent home, dust bathing center, grub buffet, and grassy knoll.

Hella enjoyed the time off by sleeping for an extra 8 hrs with a few yawn breaks

The first special test fruit trees and vines have arrived! 3 different cherries, 2 different asian pears, and a smattering of raspberries. Hopefully they will be able to survive the summer frosts and we'll see over the next few years if they can fruit through those frosts as well! Time will, literally, tell.

Those little trees get to go in the ground just as the native Cottonwoods and my Lilacs are budding out!

And Hella enjoyed the shade in the sun-warmed greenhouse, keeping a close (side) eye on all the plant babies as they get ready for the wide world!

Every warm day brings out the beautiful butterflies, the world feels so much more alive with their little wings fluttering about.

The first of the Daffodils have begun poking up through the frosty morning soil. The first spring prep task is to rake off the old debris from last year before everything gets too big, so it doesn't get damaged while I make way for the fresh growth!

The Tulips are greeting the sunshine and air as well! Last fall was the first year they got planted into their protective wire-lined trenches so fingers crossed they survive the next winter from the voles and gophers!

The perennial Lupines are also beginning to bud and grow out, so the debris removal was a chance to get excited for more and more blooms and seeds! These are the bushes I grew from seed and saved this years Lupine Seeds from and it's a great time to get them planted. They, obviously, don't mind the frost (it still is getting down to 20F here) and it gives them a head start on everything else. Since they are perennials, don't expect too many flowers the first year, but each year the bush comes in bigger and bigger with more and more blooms!

The Dome is almost ready for those special Tomatoes that have been pampered inside under their lights, but first I had to make room by returning some of the pots, stands, and worktables to the hardening off area so that there is more room inside.

One of the key steps, getting the propane heater online, is done! A few nights of testing out which setting is needed depending upon the outside temp so that I have a steady temp of at least 50F inside are paramount before I entrust the care of those growing 'mater plants to the Dragon Dome and the Fire Breather! That involves going out a few times every night to check how it is faring, and so far it's very good and is easily keeping it 55F inside on some of the lower settings even when it is 20F outside!

With a warm and fairly calm day, it was time to start hardening off those baby plants to the strong sun, dry breezes, and also the cooler temps they have been shielded from. Hella was the designated inspector and efficiency supervisor!

The hens also get to enjoy the sunshine as I whittle away at the different tasks that need to be done before mobilizing them on the pasture. Next steps are to remove the front 'safety/snow' panels and pull out those many t-posts that held their runs down through all the wind storms! In the meantime, they don't mind mingling!

And when you wanna get away from the crowds to find your own special treats, it's best to employ the buddy system!

Sometimes the lure of a freshly cleared patch of cool, damp soil amid the warm sunshine is just too good to pass up, even if it means risking getting raked up with all the debris!

Special snack time means a feeding frenzy!

It's time to start the many-stepped process of 'unwinterizing' the hen huts and get them moving on that fast greening up pasture. The first big step is to remove the tie downs and the plastic covering their runs.

Another big step is to remove all of the electrics (extension cords, cord covers, heated water bowls, switches, and more). The bowls will get a good scrub down before being stowed away until next winter!

Who knew we had such close neighbors?!

The Guineas grew up with the 3 hens in the red hut and like to visit whenever they get a chance. They had to move out on their own 2 years ago when it got too cramped for their wildness, for they are tame but not domesticated.

Monday morning brought an inch of fresh snow for the hens and ducks to enjoy without their covered runs!

On Saturday, I hosted an Outsiety (www.outsiety.com) event for women to hike along the Kootenai on Bighorn Sheep Trail. It was a wonderful day with a special side trip up to see a special waterfall. There are other Outsiety events all year long and I'll probably host a few more this summer and in winter! All events are free!

A deep freeze with a low of 14F hit Tuesday morning. All the seedlings in the greenhouse were double (and even tripled covered) in frost cloth, the emergency electric heater was on (it can't heat the whole thing, but can take the edge off). A pre-dawn check in let me know that all was ok and it got down to 28F in the greenhouse and 32F under the cloths.