Enticing Spring to Come

As I write there is a quiet blanket of snow forming on the trees outside my window. Living at an increased elevation of 2800 ft means that winter holds on to the chill like a vice until Spring can beat it into submission. The weather at this time of year is unpredictable at best. In fact, yesterday we checked the weather in order to decide where to park the cars. Rain was the plan, but snow is what we got. It's so weird for this Southern California born and raised girl to live by the weather forecast and pray for sun whenever possible.

On wintery Spring days like these I need to take steps to pull myself out of the funk consistent clouds and snow bring. The first step was purchasing a seed starting mat. Essentially a heating pad for your seeds, it has allowed me to put some faith in the coming spring thaw by starting multiple heirloom flowers and vegetables. Hollyhock, bee balm, shasta daisies, tomatoes and much more are happily growing in their little plastic greenhouse near the kitchen window. The little seedlings stretching out to the sky are like a beacon of hope that we will have some warm days soon!

Our next spring inspiration arrived yesterday in animal form. Three 2-7 day old chicks came home chirping away in their carrier: an Americauna, a Barred Rock, and a Red Sex Link. They are just the beginning of our 2011 egg flock with more arriving this Thursday giving us a grand total of 8 new chicks. We're hoping to get about 12 eggs a day come the end of summer! We used the galvanized water trough our friend Phil gave us as a sizable brooder for the new additions. With food, water, fresh shavings, and a heat lamp all provided the brooder will be a wonderful home for them for 2 months or until they have all grown in their adult feathers. Right now they cannot maintain their own temperature, so the heat lamp does that for them. Their homecoming was quite comical. The two cats and Daisy watched the brooder with a little bit too much interest. At the time I was thankful for the welded wire top we'd fitted to the trough to protect our newest additions. I think this will be a good experience for Daisy especially who has a slight issue relaxing around the sights and sounds of chickens. In two months she should be completely used to resting around the chick noises.

While we are thankful for the respite winter provides, the increasing daylight begs for us to go outside and get things started. For now we'll just have to be satiated with our indoor endeavors and have faith that Spring will arrive soon.