As soon as the snow begins to melt I start getting the gardening itch. Of course that is also about the time the seed catalogs start showing up at my mail box. I always have to hold myself back a little and remind myself that the tiny seeds I tamp into the dirt today have a long time to wait before they will be safe from frost in the garden. This year I held off till the first week in March to start my planting ritual. And now as my little seedlings have already out grown their first planter and it is currently snowing outside my window I am beginning to wonder if perhaps I will soon be living in a tomato jungle.

No homestead is complete without a handful of chickens running around. Not only do they give you fresh eggs almost daily (as if that wouldn't be enough on its own) but they are also great garden helpers, eating pests, scratching up garden beds, and providing fertilizer. Though sometimes chickens get a little overzealous in their weeding task and take out carefully planted seedlings. Oh well, their hearts are in the right place.

 Yes, I realize that I am a few months late to be welcoming in 2016 but January 1st just never feels like a new year to me. Stuck in there right in the middle of winter, I'm barely over the Christmas hoopla and now I'm supposed to be thinking about new beginnings and resolutions for this new year? No, it's dark and cold and feels old and the same, not new and exciting. But today, today is a new beginning. Today is like hitting the reset button. Everything is equal and fresh. We are moving forward into a new season of warmth, light, and fertility.