Spring Has Sprung

It seems that we have only had a few short days when there is no snow to be seen. It lingered longer than most of the long time residents had seen. "This is the worst winter since 1985!" is a quote I heard often in the library. It seems that most people in town get there at some point or another and they all have a comment to make. Especially about this winter.

And, yet, with only a few short days of weather over 60 degress everything is starting to change. The grass is starting to green up. This is particularly important to me. I only have 4 more round bales of hay. I am still feeding in the morning, but hope to stop as soon as there is enough grass to support the horses. I want the hay to last until the first cutting. Last year, that was in May.

We still have a lot of hay from our second cutting last year, but the horses don't like it. They nibble at it and dig through it for the good stuff, but waste a lot of it. I think it is because it was soooo wet last year. The guy that cuts our hay for shares kept putting off cutting. He could cut at any time for himself. He is feeding cows and they are not fussy. But he knew he was cutting for our horses, so he had to make sure the dry weather window was long enough. If the hay got wet in the field it might mildew and this can kill a horse. It has something to do with cows having mulitiple stomach and horses being big fat babies, but nonetheless, he waited too long and the hay isn't as good and so they won't eat it.


The fun harbinger of spring is that the stark, bare trees are starting to bud. And even more important, my daffodils are coming up. Only one is in bloom and I tried to get a good picture on an overcast (but warm!) day. Aren't they cheery? I wanted to plant more this fall, but the snow came so fast and so deep and for so loooong, I didn't even have time to trim all the plants back for winter. So my few sad little bulbs are fighting back all by their lonesomes. And here are the first ones!