Spring update (well, almost spring) St. Patrick's Day is Here

St. Patrick's day is tomorrow. It marks the end of winter as far as I am concerned, and that means spring activities are on my mind. It's very muddy out there. In the country after the snow goes away, you have mud to deal with until the April rains stop. It's impossible to do anything in the garden yet.

Chickens and eggs are on my mind. The chickens are producing lots of eggs - every day. For a while now I have managed to sell them all. However, for some reason, customers have dried up and I have 12 dozen eggs in my refrigerator - and there is another dozen coming later this morning. Did I mention the hens are laying every day? Once in a while one takes a day off. Only one. I still have a dozen eggs since I have 13 hens and one rooster. My egg hatching experiment ended badly. I wasn't able to regulate the temperature adequately. It's for the best. I don't need more chickens - or eggs - for a while yet.

Garlic is on my mind, too. I didn't get all the garlic bulbs planted last fall. My back acted up and well, all that bending over was out of the question, so I have extra garlic bulbs in a net bag I saved from the grocery store. I like to re-use stuff. I noticed the last bulb I used when I made spaghetti sauce had a green core and the first signs of a sprout poking out the top. Now, I believe seeds know when it's the right time for them to come out, so I assume that other garlic planted outside is getting ready to sprout, too. I read that garlic planted in the spring doesn't get as large as that planted in fall, so now I am worried that my garlic crop will be less than I wanted. I think that if I get the bulbs into some soil early enough I can ameleorate the situation. That is, I can make up for the garlic failure of last fall. I have the last three bulbs - some 20 cloves - sitting on a wet paper towel. I'll get a flat from outside later today and plant those bulbs in it and leave it outside near the garden. The soil in the garden is sodden and too muddy to work. This way, the garlic can be getting ready along with its pals for a nice spring emergence.

Then, there is the potato situation. You know, I always want to add an 'e' at the end of potato - like this "potatoe". It seems right to me.(When it's plural you add the 'e', but not when it's singular. I looked it up.) I planted them for the first time last year, and had great success. You can't beleive how much better potatoes  that have come straight from the ground taste. I planted some potatoes that had sprouted - just some Michigan cobblers - and they did better than the purchased sets of Yukon Golds. Those were tasty, but they didn't yeild enough in my opinion to win a spot in my garden this year. So, I bought a larger bag of Michigan potatoes than usual, and put the ones with the most eyes in a basket to sprout. I am going to skip buying any sets. Any way I can economize in these times is good. Also, I have lots of seeds left over from last year. Usually I toss them and order new ones, but I am going to use these - just pre-sprout them to be sure they are still viable.

Tulips are on my mind, too. I noticed the new ones are already up. That's something I could do outside. I could put some bonemeal around them to increase blooms. I could also clean up the debris from winter, and clean out the firepit. The ashes are good for the compost heap - which is way too big, by the way. When you have horses, you get lots of compost.

Also, there is the corned beef controversy. Being of Irish extraction and so on, I hear a lot about St. Patrick's day celebrations. In my house, and in most real Irish houses, it's not such a big thing. Devout Christians probably go to church an extra day in recognition, but all that partying and green stuff isn't really Irish - it's American. Corned beef is really a Kosher thing. This time of year is also a traditional Jewish feast - what is it called? I don't know. I am not religious. Having said all that, I bought a corned beef and some cabbage. I also bought a box of potato pancake mix from the Kosher display. I love those things. Ethnicity has nothing to do with it. So, we will recognize St Patrick's day with corned beef and cabbage - a Jewish and Polish sort of dish - along with perhaps a glass of Guinness or a little Tewlimore Dew (not sure of that spelling) which are definitely Irish. Dessert will be a fresh ginger cake, which is, I believe, from a Scandinavian recipe.

It's all mixed up - like my hanging bridge walk in Costa Rica where we had a Spanish speaking guide, and me, and some French Canadians from Montreal who spoke French and a little English. I speak better French than Spanish, so I sort of mediated between the Spanish-English speaking guide and the French-English speaking Canadians. When it was over, I didn't know what language I spoke anymore. I called it Franglish. The scenery was spectacular. I cried when it was time to come home. Costa Rica is a magical place.