Spring!

My mom told me that it snowed 12 inches in Northern Wisconsin yesterday.

As you can see, it almost snowed here, too.

Spring officially began this week and that means it's time for spring gardening.  Temperatures have already soared into the low 90s.  I was telling Dan that as a northerner my internal clock is so confused living in Texas.  How can it be March when it feels like August?

Despite the freezing temperature this winter, my herbs either went to seed or came back from last season.  So we already have plentiful thyme, oregano, parsley and sage - one very cool part about living in this climate!  I love having an herb garden because herbs are so very easy to grow.

The girls and I found the most beautiful tomato, basil and pepper plants this week.   I always plant the tomatoes and basil near each other based on the principles of companion planting.  I am loving the raised beds that Dan and his dad built so this is where my tomatoes and basil go.

My lemon balm came back in this bed as well.  It's a bit serendipitous that it somehow landed here as it also happens to be a "tomato allay" according to the companion planting guide.   I had so much lemon balm last year that I made it into a tincture.

Our greens from last fall/winter are coming along.  They should be ready soon.

While unrelated to gardening, I had to also include this photo of Jude's Netherland Dwarf  currently named "ZigZag"  (previous names include - Snowball, Fluff-Fluff and Neatly).

I had rabbits as a kid and remember them as being very scratchy.  The woman we bought them from had a small farm and we were very impressed with the facilities and her animals.  Her rabbits had been handled frequently and were fine being held and petted - not too scratchy.  Several of them were "free range" and would hop around the barn, following us wherever we went.   She said if the rabbits didn't work out for us, she would gladly take them back to her farm.  Who could say no to that?