Sunshine and Muscadines

And all the sweetest things in life

There’s nothing but sunshine and blue skies in your future, babe. Here’s to you enjoying every moment of happiness that comes your way. You deserve it.

— Puck

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Here’s What’s Happening At Good Spirits Farm

Wanted: My motivation back. I am having a heck of a time feeling jazzed about putting in the spring garden. Todd and I are up to our eyeballs in home renovation projects (drywall! tile! a 400-pound bathtub we are having to build stronger floor bracing for!), and my day job is sapping just about all of my remaining strength. I was 90 percent convinced I was going to skip gardening completely this year, and then someone posted a picture of a fresh tomato sandwich on Facebook and I was reminded that all that work is worth it.

This weekend’s forecast is looking good, so I think I’m going to check out a new audiobook from Libby and try and get at least a little planting done. Maybe some leeks? And a few heads of lettuce? A row of potatoes wouldn’t hurt anything either. Please send your best motivation my way!

I spent last weekend expanding our fruit orchard, adding two persimmon trees, two fig trees, another trellis of muscadine grapes, and a row of blackberry vines. These are the epitome of delayed gratification—the fruit trees are so tiny I had to mark them with flags so we don’t mow over them this summer. But, hey, in 10 years (longer for the grapes), we’ll have sun ripened sweetness!

It’s shedding season for everyone—sheep included. These babies are hair sheep, so they shed their wool once a year. Juliet is always the first to shed off, making her look a little mangey until her sleek summer coat comes in. The wool composts into the soil—it’s a great soil addition, actually. Wool pellets are becoming the hot new gardening soil addition. My sheep deliver wool to my pastures for free!

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Here’s What I Loved This Week

Friday night hikes to the creek with Veli have returned. Now that there’s more sunlight in the evenings, we have time to take her out for a wander in the woods. As far as I can tell, it’s the best way to end a stressful workweek.