happy earth day...spring is finally here!

actually, it's felt more summerish than springish for the past week, with temperatures soaring to almost 80 degrees and bright sunshine everyday. our snow is almost completely gone, and we are enjoying poking around the yard and checking out the mystery sprouts that are pushing up through the soil. i'm lovin' it.

i haven't been posting much lately because work has been busy and we've been outside enjoying the nice weather as much as possible. plus although we FINALLY have our new camera (it's awesome!) i haven't had a chance to download pictures and post any. i guess that's really no excuse but, hey. what can i say?

boopers is growing and changing like crazy. she wasn't feeling that great toward the end of last week, but she's back on track and working really hard at crawling and moving. she is a little mimic now...repeating sounds that we make, faces that we make, and even hand movements. it is clear that she is starting to recognize some words, too (aside from "baby" and "pup-pup"). all i can say is...wow. it is so COOL to watch this little baby discover her world.

we are starting to plan out our garden and clean up the yard now that the snow is pretty much gone. we bought two apple trees to plant in the back yard, which should be arriving any day now. there's lots of pruning and raking to do...and we've discovered a whole host of "antique" machinery lying around the property. anyone out there intersted in a slightly rusty, "vintage" seed planter?

anyhoo, back to the garden. i think i mentioned that our garden plot has a bunch of perennials in it (why anyone would plant hostas in a veggie garden is beyond me, but they will be transplanted in the fall, yes they will) so space is a bit limited this year, but i am scheming about starting a secondary herb/salad green plot in the side yard, where we have lots of southern exposure. this week we are starting some seeds indoors, including:

decicco broccoli (yum)
rainbow chard
zucchini
pickling cukes
basil
cilantro
sweet peppers

we are also going to grow salad greens, cutting flowers, and of course, tomatoes. we usually get tomato seedlings from pete's pop, who is a master tomato grower. i'd really love to grow winter squash, beans (we may grow some if there's room), beets, fennel, and potatoes, but i think for this first year we're going to start out small. there's lots of perennial planting and managing to do in addition to getting our veggie garden up and sprouting, so i think we'll have enough to keep us well fed and busy for the summer.