It's plowing time again

 Yeah, I went to The Farm Sunday. We were hoping to get started with this year's planting, since the snow melted so quickly. Naturally, Jeb the Wonder Dog wanted to drive:

I couldn't let him, of course -- he can't drive a stick. So he settled into the passenger's seat -- a big difference from the backseat of the SUV, which since has died and gone to car Heaven (or Hell -- I'm not sure) when he could move from side to side and check out both windows. I think he was OK with this, though:

So we looked things over. The onion bed, where we grow carrots in the other half, will stay put, as the onions have done well there and besides, once you plant onions, you always have onions there. We need to repair the box and put it back it place, but then we'll be ready to plant onions:

Ditto for the strawberries. These are perennials, so we might need to add some plants, but basically we need to repair the box, put it back in place and let the strawberries ride where they are:

The other crops will be relocated to a place with better sun. These are the bed boxes we needed to move:

And this is the dirt (or at least some of the dirt) that will fill them:

Unfortunately, because of snow melt and several recent days-long episodes of rain, the ground was so wet -- like walking on a soaked sponge -- that we couldn't bring the tractor out, so we couldn't do very much besides plan. We did that, and we also managed to weed out the asparagus bed, which also will be staying put:

Next weekend, we will be doing a number of things. I hope the ground is dried out enough to put the beds in place, because we need to put the peas in the ground, as well as the beets, spinach and lettuce. We'll see what the weather brings. Hope it's good, because it's time:

In the field of opportunity, it's plowing time again

Yeah, that's right, this past weekend officially opened farming season at Chez Wolves. My farming partner and I -- he has the land, I have the strong back and weak mind -- prepared our early beds and put in the seeds for peas, carrots, lettuce, spinach and radishes. Next weekend we'll put in the potatoes.

Naturally, Jeb the Wonder Dog came along, ready to fend off intruders and play with his buddy, a golden lab. He was out the window the whole way over in anticipation. That boy does love a car ride:

Unfortunately, his buddy has been "fixed" since last growing season and no longer seems interested in rampaging all over the property the way he used to. So Jeb was forced to keep a vigilant eye out for marauding deer or whatever on his own:

First, of course, we had to fertilize and till the beds:

 

Right there you are looking at a tiller afflicted by a clogged fuel filter. Beds got tilled the old-fashioned way -- me busting my ass with a hoe. Only had to till a few beds this week, though. Two like the one above for peas, then a 4 x 8 bed for the spinach and lettuce:

Other beds, for warm-weather plantings like tomatoes, squash, peppers, zucchini, beans, onions, garlic and cucumbers, can wait a few weeks:

Of course, all this happened Saturday. Monday, it snowed about 6 inches. Not a problem for what we planted, but further indication that winter might not ever go away. But that's OK, because, as Neil put it: