Saturday Farm Report

Well, it's been a few Saturdays, four or five, anyway, since I had my foot surgery. And this farm shows it!

Starting out front, there are branches lying around, small logs that the dogs have dragged up, and bits and pieces of various trash that the little darlings have been playing with. The flowerbeds were never cleaned out at the end of the season, something I sometimes do after the first freeze, sometimes in late Feb/early March, depending on my mood. (And, yes, I do know there's a proper time for such things. And sometimes I do it then!) The area around our barn is a train wreck. Tubs, buckets, flowerpots, lawn tools, all are lying around, waiting to be covered with the slimy muck that will visit us in spring. I can see into the barn, and I know it doesn't look like it would if I were able to get our there daily. I still haven't been able to convince people, even after 12 years, that, if they pick up a little every day, it's a 10-minute job, instead of a three hour one.

The area around the chicken coop and garden isn't much better. A hut is propped open; that's where we raised our last batch of meat birds, which went to the butcher the day before the surgery. I've asked various people several times to close it for me, but it's still open. A trailer is just outside the chicken coop, filling with snow that will melt and rust the thing in the spring. My garden was mostly "put to bed" this fall; only the last lettuce bed is still sporting some hoops and row covers. Again, I've asked for those to be put away, but they have not been. The coop and that hut still have a layer of chicken bedding, although those chickens have long since gone into the freezer or soup pot, and I've asked several times for them to be cleaned.

I guess "they're" right. Mom just can't ever get sick!

Update; I just realized something. Yesterday I headed out with John for what I called a "middle-aged date;" each of us had a doctor to see, and we also had lunch. And breakfast. Because our doctors are spread out over the Chicagoland area. We also stopped in at a Barnes and Noble, for which my mother-in-law had given me a gift card this Christmas. I bought this



because it is time for planning the garden, which I love to do. Execution, well, yeah, it might not be my strong suit. But planning...I love it! And this book has everything. Plans, checklists (because I like lists, see, and I'm better at remembering "harvest green beans" if I have a guideline for when that might need to be done) tips for growing them, and (be still my beating heart) not only recipes but lists of flowers and ways to arrange them for the table. This book just calls to my inner Martha!

What did I realize? That I may be trying to get some control over this shabby place in the only way I can while laid up in the Stormtrooper boots; planning out my summer yard.

I also bought this



because I just love America's Test Kitchen and the way they "teach" cooking. And those Fairy Gingerbread cookies on the front looked really yummy...

Thanks, Carol, for the gift card. I shopped wisely enough that, between your gift and my Educator Discount, both of these cost me a nickel out-of-pocket. Sometimes I'm proud of my shopping ability.