Harbingers of Spring at our house

By dramamamafive April 30, 2013 Gardening, Homeschooling, Uncategorized 22 Comments

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It’s spring at last. The air is almost too sweet to be believed. Fruit trees burst into blossom overnight, as if they’ve been holding it all in for just this moment. Here are a few sweet signs of spring at our place.

We have a weeping cherry tree in our back yard. It’s full of honeybees today, hungry for pollen.

Little Mack wants to impress me, so he climbs up into the tree full of blossoms. “Look up here, Mom! Take my picture!”

But then he hears the buzzing of the honeybees all around him . . .

"This tree is full of bees! MOM! Get me down!"

“MOM! There are bees in here! GET–ME—OUT–of here!”

Here Hoppy inspects the clean new digs.

I clean out several months’ worth of chicken . . . er . . . used bedding and Amalia helps me spread it on the garden. Just in time . . .

My dad does me this favor every spring, of tilling up my garden until it's smooth and stirred and ready for planting

My dad does me the favor every spring of tilling up my garden until it’s smooth and stirred and ready for planting. The chicken bedding makes a nice addition to the soil.

My dad does me the favor every spring of tilling up my gardens until they are smooth and stirred and ready for planting. The chicken, er, bedding makes a nice addition to the soil. As would compost, if I had some ready . . . . alas . . . .

Remember the little mother Babes? Here she is in a nesting box, and next to her is her daughter "Puff" who is laying eggs, now, too.

Mama taught her baby well.

Remember the little mother hen Babes? (She’s on the right.) Here she is in a nesting box, and next to her is her daughter “Puff” who is laying eggs now, too.

I’ve always thought the hens laid better when the coop was tidy.

Amalia and Timothy are going to the Spring Formal, which includes a masquerade ball, with their friends. They’ve been busy working on masks all week. Well, Amalia has. April and May are full of recitals, formals, graduations, receptions, and birthdays. So many parties. It’s a busy time.

It’s such a lovely sight–lovely young ladies helping each other get everything just so.

The wind is a bit of a problem. It nearly always is out here on the prairie.

Oh, just perfect!

Here are Amalia and Timothy–don’t they clean up nice, for country kids?

Here’s the entire group: Amalia, Timothy, Olivia, Timothy, and Hannah. Precious.

So these are a few harbingers of spring at our house. Is it springtime where you are? If so, what are the signs of the season that grab at your heart?