Enjoying Spring!

Are you enjoying this spring weather as much as I am! I can't seem to soak in enough sunshine or breathe in enough fresh air! I'm slowly working my way around the perennial beds cleaning out the leaves and garden debris. Progress has been excruciatingly slow, which I'm choosing to blame on lack of energy and not that I have too many flower beds! After planting our early vegetable garden and paying for it with sore muscles for the next two days, I've seen the need to pace myself until I get back in shape. (And this round basket ball shape does not qualify as “in shape”!)
I get such a thrill out of watching the children rediscover the outdoors after winter. Their questions are non-stop “What are these green leaves?” “Is this a good bug?” They roll over rocks looking for worms and other creepy crawlers. We found a large brown toad in one bed. Though I'm not particularly squeamish (except for snakes), petting a lumpy toad is not on my list of loves!
I've been reading “Last Child in the Woods” Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder by Richard Louv. He shares that parents often instill a fear of nature in their children, whether knowingly or not. I certainly hope to promote a wonder and fascination of God's creation in our children – even for the amphibian creatures – so I gulped down my distaste and joined the children's excitement in toad watching!
Our chicks continue to grow amazingly fast! After finding one chick perched on top of their feeder one morning, we feared they would soon be jumping over the sides of their box. We moved them from the box in the basement to the chicken house with their brooder light on a long extension cord. They seem to be enjoying the extra room!
Our first garden seeds have been in the ground for two weeks now, but so far, there is no sign of green. The few seeds I started on the window sill are growing slowly probably because of the small amount of sunlight they receive. But the tiny plants in the hoop house are growing very well! Apparently, even without heat, it has given enough protection to encourage growth. Hopefully it won't be too many more weeks before we enjoy our first spinach salad with some spring onions! How I love this time of year!