Spring 2013 Right On Schedule

Temperatures here continue to fluctuate with early spring. 50 and 60 degree temperatures during the day with the nights dipping down into the 30's and 40's. The last several weeks have been extremely rainy and it is looking like a cool and wet spring shaping up for us. I am hoping all this moisture combined with those late snows will bring an end to the drought conditions that plagued us last year. The Old Farmer's Almanac places our average last frost date at April 15th so I would say we are pretty well on schedule.  The fruit trees all reflect the spring like conditions and as always the plum trees are the first to bloom. This is always my fruit crop that is lost many years to late frosts. With a low of 28 predicted for this upcoming Friday I am a little worried. 

But for now I will simply enjoy the show and pray knowing that for every crop failure there is usually a boom crop of something else to replace it. God usually provides and rarely do we ever go hungry. 

It's funny to see the bright blossoms up against a backdrop of bare and gray trees. 

The Indian Blood Red Peach blooms are just starting to open on this rainy Monday morning as I take pictures and write this.  

The apple trees are just starting to leaf out.

The flower gardens are again awash with color after a long and dull winter. 

And the daffodils that I have tucked all over this farm are sprinkled like yellow specks of sunshine around trees and shrubs and along sheds drinking in all this rain. This double daffodil was originally dug from around the old burned out farmhouse that was original to this farm. There are now many clumps of this spread around the place. 

With all the rain the grass is again green and will soon need mowing. A little patchier after the drought but with a little reseeding in places it will be as good as new. If there is one thing this old patch of rolling prairie can grow it is rocks and grass : )

Blessings from The Holler

The Canned Quilter