planting seeds

gorgeous day.  the air is sweet with orange blossoms.  everyone caught a nap today, including me.  on sundays, i felt deserving of one since i wake at dawn.  tango was up with me at 6:30 when i opened up the chicken coops, fed everyone, filled the water buckets, and let the sheep out.  i raked stray straw, and bits of alfalfa into piles, and made the sheep shed ready for james to clean with the tractor.  took out the perches, hosed them down and left them to dry in the sun.  then, it was time for a big bacon and egg breakfast and a recorded episode of "top chef masters".

my post-breakfast nap was interrupted by a visit from door-to-door missionaries.  both tango and banjo went ballistic.  fortunately james greeted them before i did.  these missionaries have canvased our neighborhood on random sundays as long as we've been here.  they start speaking spanish and, upon realizing that we don't "habla", they move along to the next house.  oddly, they are disinterested in converting non-hispanics.  they do dress nicely, though.

after a rude awakening, the beautiful weather inspired me to do alittle work in the garden. after watching the "spain" episode of anthony bourdain's show, i decided to chop off the root end of some brown onions and stick them in the ground.   hopefully, they'll grow into the delicious, leek-like veggies they roasted during that show.  i finally planted the snow pea shoots, and cleaned out last year's dead tomato stalks.  the garden is covered with clover, except for a row that i turned under for the onions and peas.

i opened the burpee seed starter kit that james bought me last year.  i've never started seed inside the house, so this is a first.  the kit's kind of genius - a tray of 70 small holes filled with little discs that transform into soil (in 60 seconds) after 9 cups of hot water are added.  there's a watering "blanket" under the seed cups to keep them moist, and a drainage tray below that. once the seeds are planted, there's a clear plastic top that acts as a greenhouse until sprouts appear.  i planted a few of nearly every heirloom seed i had (tomato, peppers, cukes, eggplant, basil, leeks, onions, zucchini) and put the tray near a sunny window.  it'll be interesting to see if the tomato seeds i saved from last year's fruit will sprout.  i'm already dreaming of roasted tomato sauce!

now, it's time to get dirty by replacing the bedding in the sheep shed (which inevitably leaves me covered with shaving and bits of straw).  then, i'll put the perches back in the coop, get ready to tuck everyone in for the night, and enjoy the last moments of  peace before another crazy week begins.