Spring!

On a run through the woods last week,

Mickey discovered the wild lilacs in bloom.

We hiked down together for Mick to dig some up for us and for his folks.

While he dug, I took pictures.

Quite the scene, these bushes poking out of his bag as we walked back up!

We stopped to sample some birch twigs.

Yep, they smell like wintergreen all right!

(You can also see Mickey's new shovel --

all metal, heavy duty -- he loves it!)

The scene as we came up from the woods.

OUR YARD IS GREEN!!!!!!

It may not look like much to you,

but after months of brown, stones, and construction rubbish,

we are thrilled to see the green tinge!

It feels much more home-ish.

We have planted snowdrops, crocuses, and myrtle

along the east and west sides of the cabin.

Mick dug up some of the snowdrops from his folks' (thank you!),

and we have been transplanting many things from the trailer.

Snowdrops and crocuses next to the stairs.

One of the lilacs, transplanted to its new home.

It is now part of the food forest that Mick has been laying out.

The logs (from felled trees) mark pathways,

and the little mounds mark trees and shrubs.

The stone circle currently holds peas,

and is surrounded by crocuses, lavender, and yarrow.

The bush in the foreground is an elder transplanted from the woods.

Mick has also fenced off the forest garden,

where we will grow most of our vegetables

(at least until the back yard is in full production).

It is now officially bird-proof!

with a beautiful stone stairway.

Our bush cherries very enthusiastically flowered

after a few days of temperatures in the 60s and 70s...

...which was right before an evening of 19 degrees.

Yes, that's Fahrenheit.

This apple tree has also been enthusiastically leafing out.

Our first spring here, we discovered a single blooming tree back in the woods.

Now it is out in the open and soaking in the sunshine!

Leeks, trout lilies, and spring beauties in abundance (among other things).

May apples

yellow violet

We hope you'll come and visit soon!

Stained!

Mick has finished paneling the hall closet.

And we have begun the task of staining the interior of the cabin. (Do you have any idea how many wood surfaces there are in a cabin?) We have targeted the bedroom as our first room, and here's how it looks after one coat (two afternoons) of stain.

The logs look rather red and quite a different shade than the paneling. We love the color, and will make no attempt to try to match the logs to the panels.

Two coats of poly, and the walls will be done, and the bed ready to receive its mattress!

Le Chat, Mon Roi

The herbs, comfrey starts, and black locust seedlings have been moved outside to harden off, but the plant stand did not remain vacant for long.

Gerard quickly claimed the space, finding the plant stand much higher and closer to a window than the rocking chair. He quickly settled down...

...and went to sleep.

Then there is the impossibly cute "see no evil" sleeping position

Of course, after a long day of being awesome, it was time to relax.

Looks kinda awkward to me...

...but he seems happy.

The Power of Sourdough!

Behold!

Sourdough is amazing. I made this dough a little too soft and let it raise a little too long. The loaf pan is a small cast iron pan we got from Lehmans at half off. We love it...you can put it places that are too hot to raise bread with normal loaf pans without the bread starting to bake prematurely.

It developed these funny ears that were easy to break off and eat as separate loaves. I took one for lunch (and breakfast) during my last drill weekend.

Any baking endeavor you can do with dry yeast you can do better with sourdough, of this I am firmly convinced.

The trick is to activate your sourdough culture before you use it...and you don't have to let it sit out overnight. The pizza and bread loaf above were started the afternoon prior to cooking them...I just added some somewhat hot water to bring the sourdough batter up to lukewarm...added some sugar and whole wheat flour, let it set for a few minutes, then added the rest of the ingredients to make a dough. From there, treat as a regular yeast dough. For the brewers, it's the difference between adding dry yeast from a packet and using an activated yeast culture from Wyeast or whoever.

By the way, if food like this looks good, then give us a visit! The wild leeks have been out for about a week, I think in one to two weeks the bulbs will be worth harvesting.

Cabin-Oh My!

I'm afraid I have not done a good job keeping up with all of Mickey's work on the cabin, so here is some catch-up!

east gable wall

The beginnings of a ceiling!

(the northern ceiling is also started)

and the western gable wall.

(the other half is completely paneled)

hall closet

kitchen and bathroom walls

the east wall of the bathroom from the doorway:

the utility sink will be in the foreground,

and the shower will be in the back corner,

with plumbing in the wall between.

Another view:

the shower on the left, the utility sink on the right.

hearth stones grouted

I couldn't believe what a difference the grout made!

Then, yesterday, Mickey seemed awfully coy and non-chatty

when I asked him how his day was.

When we went up to the cabin later that afternoon, I saw why!

SURPRISE!!! All the tiles up in one day!

He cut 6x6" tiles in half with his spiffy new tools.

He even trimmed the bottom tiles to fit the stones!

Ready to receive its stove!

(almost, says Mickey)

Spring is in the air!

Spring is officially on its way! The red-winged blackbirds arrived back in town sometime Sunday to greet us Monday morning, and on Friday we encountered the first robin. (encountered = narrowly avoided running over -- robin was a bit slow to fly away as our Saturn came along)

Anyhow, the ducks are in heaven with all the mud!

Much less obsessed with their personal grooming than usual,

I (Sarah) couldn't believe what a mess they were! :)

And speaking of birds, we are overflowing in eggs!

Chicken eggs:

Duck eggs:

and GOOSE eggs!

Isn't it humongous?!

So far this week we have gotten two (our first).

Here's another size comparison --

chicken:

duck:

GOOSE!

Makes the expression "goose egg" much more impressive!