No, I am not talking scarlet fever or hay fever… It’s SPRING fever around here!

Thankfully we’ve kicked our cold (I should say E and I kicked it, N might be coming down with it now). So things are more productive here especially since the weekend was warmer than usual, basically it was NOT jacket weather and it really gave a taste of what’s been missing around here.

We have been itching to garden and to be able to sit outside in the sunshine and fresh air in the mornings. It feels like I’ve been stuck indoors forever… because I truly have. I mean I was about to pop just as summer was under way here so I wasn’t enjoying the heat or sun much, then I was with newborn E and avoiding the outdoors to protect her… Now we are ready for some outside time, bring on the spring!

Over the weekend we shelled the sunflowers that were hanging to dry from the summer. Remember the photo of E and the huge sunflower? Let me remind you:

We saved the massive sunflower heads for drying and shelling after they were done. Like unpacking our house the sunflowers are another thing that just got pushed to the back burner for a bit. Now a few are shelled though and we are planning to eat them, feed them to the birds, rabbits and even to replant some this summer. We are going to have several pounds of seeds when all the shelling is done.

For Valentines Day I got N a few gardening books he’s wanted. Specifically I got him All New Square Foot Gardening: Grow More in Less Space! and The Backyard Homestead: Produce all the food you need on just a quarter acre!.

Now that we are in our own place we can really start some long term gardening plans that will mirror our sustainable and self sufficient lifestyle goals.  This summer we know we’ll be able to grow all our own produce, this will be especially great with little Tater’s mouth to feed too.

Seeds are already started in the office in preparation for our February/ March planting dates. We even took a trip to the local hardware store so N could buy supplies for the garden beds he is building out back. He finished 2 of the planting boxes already!

We are roaring and ready to go! Growing our own produce is something we really enjoy, especially with the increase in genetically modified/ engendered crops and the high cost of organic local stuff. Growing our own food saves us money and it helps reduce our environmental impact (aka we aren’t buying foods that come from 100′s miles away). Plus homegrown food tastes better and is fresh for picking when ever we are ready to eat it. Yum! We are so excited.