Cold Snap

I was surprised yesterday to wake up to snow again.  It actually hung around into early afternoon, and it has remained quite cool.  There are signs of spring everywhere, though.  The redbud trees that line the roads on my way to work are looking beautiful.  The Bradford pears are blooming, and my neighbor's pink dogwood looks fabulous.  I know we have a little white dogwood, but it's not blooming yet.  Every day there is more green, though!

Book Review - For Such a Time by Kate Breslin

Today, I was home from work due to sickness, and it was a good thing because I could not put this book down!  I read For Such a Time by Kate Breslin.  It's the story of Hadassah, a young Jewish woman who finds herself saved from a death squad to become the Terezin camp commander's secretary.  There she is a position that may allow her to effect her people's fate, but every decision is fraught with danger and helping other Jews could endanger her own life.  I have long read many books, both fiction and nonfiction, about the Holocaust and World War II, and this is among the best.  I was surprised when I read that this is the author's first novel; the writing is excellent.  The characters are not only believeable but also have depth.  The conditions in the camps are described with heartbreaking accuracy.  The entire book is inspired by the book of Esther, and although I wondered how that would work in a Holocaust story, it really does.  I highly recommend this book.

I received this book from Bethany House Publishing in exchange for my review, but all opinions are my own.

Hyacinths and Seedlings

There are several hyacinths blooming in my front yard.  Yesterday, the downpour we had flattened a couple, so I was happy to pluck them, and now they are making my kitchen smell amazing!

They are beautiful, too, with vibrant colors that I just love.  It's good to see spring!

Speaking of spring, my seedlings are coming along.  Now most of the tomato seeds have sprouted, although some got washed out of the pots with over-excited watering when they were just seeds, so not all of the pots have tiny tomato plants in them.  The pimento peppers look good, and some of the other peppers are just starting to sprout.  I had them too cold; once I added the clear lid, they have started sprouting.  I need to plant some more seeds this week, including herbs.  Oh, and all of the radish plants outside are now growing and looking really healthy.  The few spinach and broccoli plants I had put outside look fine, despite the deluge we got yesterday.

And in very exciting (for me) news: we got 4 big fruit trees from a local nursery.  All are beautiful and healthy.  Elijah helped dig the holes for the peach and pear trees, which I planted Saturday and Sunday.  The plum and cherry are still in their pots, but they are doing fine and will be planted soon.  We also bought two blueberry bushes for the front, but I haven't planted those yet, either.  I'm bound and determined to have fruit grow here!

Spring Break

Well, it's the end of spring break.  We're back home, but we had a wonderful visit with family for most of the week.  The kids enjoyed dyeing Easter eggs, and they got to have an egg hunt with their cousins as well.

Happy Kids with their dyed eggs.

I got to spend lots of time kissing those chubby cheeks!

The boys helped Pa remove some invasive weeds.  Malachi LOVED his green work gloves.  He's worn them for at least a while every day this week.  He brought them home, too, and he's worn them working in our yard now as well.

Lydia wanted a job, too, so I got her started on sweeping the gumballs off the sidewalk and driveway.  She loves to sweep, but it's best to let her do it outside!

Spring

It seems that spring is finally starting to break out around here.  The crocuses are blooming, and the daffodils are getting close.  Green leaves are barely poking up where the irises will bloom.  It's exciting to see green peeking out here and there after such a cold winter.

I did plant some spinach and broccoli outside in the garden, although only about 4 plants of each.  The rest are still happily growing in pots in the playroom.  The tomatoes and most of the peppers haven't sprouted yet, but I do have some sheepnose pimento peppers sprouting.  I'm very excited about that.  Outside in large pots on the deck, I have Cincinnati Market radishes sprouting.  The other pot, Radish Sparkle, isn't yet but probably will soon.  I will be starting more seeds soon, and doing a bit more outside planting of cold-tolerant things, but not for at least a week because the kids and I are going to my parents' for spring break!

Final Syrup - Grade B

I finished making syrup last night, and I ended up with a darker syrup with a richer flavor.  Generally, this would be called Grade B, and it is usually our favorite and the one we usually buy at the syrup festival.

I have about a quart of it (not all shown in picture).  It is really delicious!  

I think after our learning experiences this year that we can produce about a gallon of syrup per tank of propane.  Since we won't have to buy any supplies next year, that puts the cost of a gallon of syrup at whatever the current cost of a propane tank is.  Nathaniel keeps telling me that he wants to build an outdoor wood-fired oven, and if he does and it works well for us, that would be a free way to convert the sap into syrup.  We'll see how that pans out.  Nathaniel also plans on tapping a few more trees next year (and we have enough spiles and tubing to do so), so we may produce even more syrup.  We really enjoyed making our own syrup this year, and I'm happy to make this a new tradition.

Ready for Spring

It's been a busy week here.  Our church preschool's consignment sale always keeps me busy for a week each spring and fall, and this year was no exception.  But now, the sale is over and I have some time to catch my breath.

Last night, we had a campfire and smores in the back yard.  It has gotten quite cold again, and the fire was a great idea.  Nathaniel went over and invited some neighbors to join us, and we had fun as we visited and stayed up too late.  It was really nice, and we'll have to do something like that again.

While it's cold outside, inside the playroom is warm and sunny.  The seedlings look great!

Tiny "fat" carrots are starting to sprout.  The soil is wet here because I just watered before taking the picture.

And below are some of the seedlings I started about a month ago.  At top is broccoli and on bottom is spinach.  They are all looking really healthy.

And right now on the deck, I'm boiling the last of the maple sap.  So far, we've made about 3/4 of a gallon of syrup.  When I get done with this last batch, we should have close to a gallon total.  Nathaniel pulled the spiles out of the trees so they can focus on getting ready for spring.  We are looking forward to tapping again next winter!