Spring? What Spring?

Last Saturday, although it had turned chillier than we'd had over the past week, it was still Spring-like and felt like the weather for The Plot (y'all remember The Plot, don't you ;). It's been a long time...)


The first thing we, ahem, did was to dig up the few remaining parsnips. 'We' is my favourite word. The Builder, and Big Brother reckon I over-use it. I think they know nothing, and ought to stick with what they know best.

With these parsnips, I made some Spicy Parsnip soup.

What really made me take stock (Hah! take stock....? soup... ?! stock....?? Okay, let's move on) was that here we were, preparing The Plot for this coming year's vegetables, and we are still reaping the rewards of last year's.

We are still using our tatties from last year. They aren't looking particularly bonny, but they're great for chips, for roasting, or for mashing.

We still have around six tubs of soup in the freezer, made with last year's vegetables (when I say, 'last year', the carrots and the turnip, for example, weren't actually lifted until this year, but y'all know what I mean).

I'll say it for the first time this year regarding my Plot: Amazing.

I'm guessing it wont be my last rendition of this word regarding The Plot.

And so, with the joy of Spring in my step, I spent some time in the greenhouse on Saturday.

Joy.

Pure, unadulterated Joy.

Some of the seeds removed from their packaging and placed in gorgeous, brown soil.

Pink does not become me. I know it, and it's my one blight on an otherwise delightful day.

I just do not like pink. So why use them, Anne? Why?

This year, I've gone with planting a certain number of each of the brassicas, and my plan is to plant another set number in about 3 weeks. We'll see how this works out in terms of giving us more of a spread - having fifteen cauliflower all ready for harvesting on the same day is okay - it's not as though any go to waste - but it would be better having more of a spread, so we'll see how this goes.

Fear not, you'll be hearing all about it!

And so..... that was Saturday. And Saturday is a long time ago. Okay, so it's three days, but in terms of our weather, that's a whole season.

Those of you on Homeschool on the Croft's Facebook will already know this.

I give weather reports. Frequently.

Today, we have a covering of snow. Through the night, when I was safely tucked up in bed, but when the lambs - the wee babies - were outside, the winds were 60mph, the temperatures were hovering around freezing, with a windchill of -4C.

I say it again: these babies are hardy things.