Thawing out

I have been in full on cave bear hibernation mode this winter and loving it. When I get home from work, I collect eggs and put the chickens up, let the dogs out, put on flannel pants and get a fire going. Then I settle on the couch with my laptop and the first beer of the evening and move as little as possible for the next 4 hours. As a result of this regimen and a day job that isn't exactly physically taxing, I've been getting fat for the first time since middle school. Getting ready in the mornings, I've noticed my pants fitting a little tighter in the waist and my slim cut shirts seem a little more stretched at the buttons. When the weather finally turned mild last weekend for the first time since fall, we wasted no time getting back outside and back to work. April got down to raking the heavy blanket of soggy leaves away from the house, tidied up and trimmed back the rose garden and was happy to see her beehives start to buzz with activity again. I broke out the handsaw and shears and began the epic task of pruning the orchard back into shape. Climbing into the trees like a monkey man, cutting off all the water sprouts and reducing the apple and pear trees to more productive and pickable shapes used muscles that had lain dormant for at least 2 months. We worked side by side with our dogs and chickens happily barking and clucking away under the warm winter sun. While the hens were pecking for bugs and sprouts underneath their favorite oak tree, our mighty white rooster fended off a 2 falcon assault force with a little help from the junior roo. The warning shots from the .22 probably helped a little too. Not a single bird was lost to the forces of evil this fine Superbowl Sunday. We labored until our breath was short, our muscles ached and the sun hung low in the February afternoon sky. April helped me to gather most of the limbs and branches, I had shorn from the first 5 trees to receive their spring haircuts and carry them back to our growing woodpile. After I finish pruning the orchard we will rent some heavy equipment for another wild weekend of woodchipping madness. We also placed this year's order with Johnny's Selected Seeds. This spring we will be adding herb and flower gardens around the house in addition to adding asparagus, new tomato varieties and a much larger selections of greens, lettuce and cabbage to the raised beds. We are moving away from staples like corn and potatoes that we tried growing last year since we cant compete with the prices at Walmart or even the folks bringing them in from South Carolina to the farmers market. With us both working we are trying to refocus our energy on things we love to eat ourselves and that will fetch a little higher dollar if we have surplus to sell. The bees have a year of honey production under their little black and yellow belts and we are expecting the hive to meet much higher sales numbers this year. Clyde and Otto are still spending the majority of their time shedding copious amounts of fur on our couches, barking at imaginary intruders and laying about on the porch waiting to be let back inside. April finally hit upon the solution to stop sofa destruction by barricading the Blue Heeler inside the kitchen with two chairs backed against a stout folding table. The couch may be beyond repair at this point but our chunky cattle dog's campaign of destruction has come to a halt at least temporarily. Today we saw a little more snow and another arctic evening, but as I fall asleep tonight I'll be dreaming of sunshine and the prospect of many more working weekends ahead to work on losing this winter gut.