perched on the fringes of spring

Today, for the first time in many months, it actually felt like spring. The signs are everywhere! In my father's living room window today, a lone lady bug was crawling along on a mission for food and freedom. The bald eagle whose nest is down the street sat regally on a branch most of the day watching the cars go by and watching for rodents to start moving around in the field nearby. And, if you look closely at the rose of sharon in our front yard, you'll spy blossoms beginning to form. The six inches of ice have finally melted off the driveway too. These are exciting times around the SemiFarm.
This weekend was the last we'll likely have to hibernate and sit lazily inside. So we drank in all those luxuriously slow moments as we anticipate all that lies in wait beneath the soil beneath the snow. This will be a busy year, getting the main garden and other gardens in order. We've decided to use as many spare spaces as we can around our home for growing food rather than landscaping plants. It will be an exercise in creativity that will keep us fed and our grocery bills lower as we gather up what we'll need to store our harvest come fall. The majority of the day I spent sketching out the garden layout with the help of the Mother Earth News vegetable garden planning tool, which was super helpful for getting a look at how to lay out some of our succession plantings. We'll be planting quite a bit of beans, tomatoes, broccoli and peppers, along with the regular onions and such. There will also be some grains and seeds like quinoa and sunflowers, which we've never tried to grow before. Cooking experiments with quinoa begin later this week!
River and I took a leisurely stroll down our street to try and get a picture of the eagle. The walk gave us a chance to savor the sunset and warm temperatures, but by the time we arrived, the eagle had left, his nest stark and empty in the naked trees. Maybe later this week we'll have better luck catching him on film to share with you. River enjoyed himself and I am thankful for the exercise as we all gear up for another week at the office and school.

If the weather's finally turned near you, how do you plan to spend the warmer days this week?
Image from here.