Diary of a Transplant: Waiting for Spring

  |  April 4, 2013

After a brief hibernation, writer Larissa Phillips is back to tell us about her bucolic, post-Brooklyn life on the farm.

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The last time I wrote for Upstater, I was all content with the stasis of winter.

That feeling is as gone as the icicles off our roof and the snow from our pasture. Enough with the cold already! Bring on the budding leaves and the daffodils and the asparagus and the nettles and the strawberries!

It is no longer winter around here, but it isn’t spring yet either. It is half-spring. Here are some signs of the times:

The hoop house is mostly planted, half with lettuce, beet, and radish seeds, and half with seedlings — kale, chard, calendula, lettuce, and a couple fool hardy tomato seedlings.

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The horses are enjoying the sun.

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Our friend Erica’s goats have begun kidding. Her goat Gidget had quadruplets! Our goats aren’t due to kid until May, so we have been getting our goat kid fix at her place, and helping her to bottle feed.

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The teenager chicks are going outside for the day. We’re still bringing them in at night, but they are loving the sun and the dirt and the room to stretch. The grownup hens all come over to check them out.

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Crocuses, finally.

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Easter eggs.

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Happy Spring, all. It really will happen

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