Spring preparations

I know, technically it's not spring for a few more weeks, but it definitely feels like spring right now. I have seeds sprouting in pots in the window and we're trying to keep the garden watered. As usual in Oklahoma, we find ourselves praying for rain. It's been unseasonably warm and dry the last week, and expected to continue for next week as well.

We have once again replanted our berry patch with blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries. We're still waiting to find out if the rhubarb and asparagus survived our bitter cold this winter.

The orchard seems to have pulled through okay. A few frost kill branches, but no full trees lost as far as I can tell so far. Thankfully they also haven't broken bud yet, which gives me hope that they might hold off through any late frosts still in store for us. I am definitely going to need to prune the plums and maybe the pears next year. I'm planning to get a few grapevines in the ground too, once I figure out supports for them.

The pigs are just about ready to get out of their winter paddock, but we're not quite ready for them yet. We have to fix or replace some of our electric nets that they destroyed last year, and we have a few more feeder pigs to pick up. They won't be with us long, just through the summer and the fall, but we're excited to have them join our sounder (that's the name for a group of pigs!) nonetheless! Although we have a young breeding boar in with our sow, thus far he's been more enthusiasm than efficacy. We're sure he'll get there, but even when he does we will be three years out from sending that first litter to people's freezers! So for at least a few more years, feeders will have to do for us.

I have hatching eggs on order to try and expand the flock, but we're going to need to upgrade to a much larger coop than the one they're all currently in. I have a shed that I've started to convert into a chicken coop, but I still have some work to do, like installing vents and maybe windows for light.

Another part of our spring preparations is assessing where to focus our attention for the coming year. As I slowly cut down red cedars, I've been looking at the condition of our old fencing and the verdict is looking rough. The worst part was an old paddock that we tried to keep our first pigs in (spoiler: it didn't work). So, I'm in the process of pulling the fence apart, seeing what can be salvaged and repurposed, and what can't. Unfortunately, even after a long day working at it, I wasn't able to get the old paddock fence completely down because I discovered some old standing dead trees in one corner. It's not safe to work under them, so I have to bring them down safely before I can finish dismantling the paddock. Hopefully, once I can get this little paddock pulled out, I'll be able to repair the section of fence it shares with a larger paddock we have.

That's all the time I have for now, I hope you come back and see us after your next adventure!