Today was an extremely nice and warm day. The temperature got up to 63 degrees F! I saw my first butterfly of the year! We’ve heard robins singing and my husband saw a swallow. All good signs that spring has truly arrived. AND…My brand new granddaughter and mom came home from the hospital!

Grandchild number 14 and granddaughter number 10 arrived less than two hours after my daughter finished work for the day! Baby and momma are doing well. She came about three weeks early, weighing in at 5 pounds 14 ½ ounces and 17 inches long. Tiny and cute. She joins two older sisters and a slightly older brother.

Thoughts and talk of gardens are becoming commonplace. The greenhouses are gearing up and we’ll start planting outdoors in just over a month. It isn’t expected to freeze tonight or for the next week!

My husband has cleaned all the swallow nest boxes and added a new one this year. In another couple days he’ll be preparing the yard for summer, raking and unwrapping the trees (hungry moose deterrence). The hustle and bustle of our short season has begun in earnest.

By the middle of July the Farmers’ Market will have a good selection of lettuce and radishes. Broccoli, cabbage, kohlrabi, zucchini, fresh herbs, and root vegetables won’t be available until August and September. Some of the Russian tomatoes will be grown outdoors but most will come from the greenhouses. And we will feast on the bounty.

And then, about the time the tourists leave in early August, the red salmon run will begin. This year we are planning on canning about 20-25 salmon, smoking up about that many, and freezing the rest. Of course, we will eat a few freshly caught ones along the way.

Oh well, we have thoughts of spring and anticipation of all the good that is to come! We are ready. It’s been another long and dark winter. We’re now at almost 16 hours of daylight and within the next few weeks the trees will bud and leaf out. The grass will no longer be brown and dead. Green is just around the corner! Yeah!!!