Foggy days, and plenty to do.

Yesterday and today are firmly in fog season, not just rain, but thick fog. It's not an uncommon thing where we live, but it's definitely a normal spring sign. Of course, we're expecting Snow Sunday into Monday, so winter isn't quite done yet. We'll see just how snowy it actually gets, I'm not expecting much effect, but it would certainly not be good for anything that had sprouted. The only thing I'm really concerned about on that front is the apple tree, but we'll see how that turns out!

This weekend is going to be a busy one off the property, so no matter the weather we aren't likely to be able to get much done. Maybe next weekend we can really focus on getting cleanup outside started. There's a fair amount to do for a number of reasons. For one, cleanup is always a thing you have to do after a winter. For another, we didn't do good enough fall clean up after the work on the kitchen, so there's a fair amount of mess since our focus was inside the house. That seems to be the balance of things, the work has to be done one way or another, and with things like cleanup, you do it now, or you do it later. With gardening and livestock of course if you don't do the work, you don't get the product which is why no matter what those tasks have to get done. Right now with the unpredictable weather, we're mostly watching the garden and seeing if anything in the ground survived the weird winter. I'm not holding out much hope for the Kale you see in this photo, but it would be a nice thing if it did!

The Turkey is still missing, and we're going to assume she's going to be gone for some time. The chickens though are laying, and doing their thing. We have a lot of clean up to do around their coop between the discarded shavings from cleaning out the hutch, and their run. That's ok though, and is expected. The good thing about piles of shavings and chicken manure is that next year it'll be good to mix into a struggling garden bed. The rabbit manure of course will get dumped onto beds that have lost too much depth this year, and used right away. Given our soil the ability to cheat to win is absolutely a positive thing for us! That said, we have a Lot of cleaning to do between manure, and random crap around the yard both of literal, and figurative varieties. I think I should be able to get at least some of that done in the evenings now that there is a little light left when I get home. The challenge of course being balancing the time I have to spend outside with the time I want to, and should be spending with the Critter.
Plans for this spring as they stand right now in no particular order of importance.

• Clean up the yard. This will involve throwing away trash, and using what we can as compost.
• Tear out the raspberry bushes and random thorn bushes on the South slope of the ridge behind the house. We have plenty of raspberries elsewhere.
• Clean the rabbit hutches thoroughly.
• Breed the rabbits.
• Move the hawthorn tree in the front garden bed somewhere else.
• Dig some new gardening area.
• Build or dig beds at the top of the ridge behind the house.
• Start seeds inside.
• Start cold hearty crops outside shortly.
• Put the finishing touches on the large coop.
• Move the chickens to the large coop, and move the run up to that.

There's lots more to do, and as it comes to mind I'll see what I can get done. If nothing else, my task for the moment should be, turn this into a list of priorities.