"To see things in the seed, that is genius."

It's that time of year around here...the skies have been blue and dotted with what I like to call cotton candy clouds. The temperatures have been scrumptious (68 today), and the days are beginning to get longer. The forecast is predicting rain and chillier weather this weekend, and since we are still in the middle of winter, I'm expecting cooler days to push the beautiful ones out of the way...but they will only make Spring more welcome!

I've never been much of a gardener...a few flowers here and there (and the Tulips that our sheep ate...), but nothing very serious. I don't know what's come over me, but I've decided to really work at it this year and I'm looking forward to watching my plants grow, making my own home remedies, and eating fruits and veggies that come from our garden. But before the glamorous stage arrives, however, there is always work to do....

A weed is a plant that has mastered every survival skill except for learning how to grow in rows. ~ Doug Larson

No pain, no gain...that's the quote, right? I spent several hours outside today clearing out the vegetable garden bed. The entire bed looked like the above picture...oh, and Stinging Nettles still sting.

*sigh* Good, clean dirt. A bit on the sandy side, but still, there were a TON of worms in there, and underneath all of those weeds I discovered a good bit of soft soil, and ready or not, I'm determined to make it work! We used an empty bed in our backyard last year, but you can't see if from the house, and there was a bunch of junk in it. So, we'll use it for a different project this year and keep our veggies and herbs where I can see them.

Currently adorning our driveway are the piles of weeds for our compost. I still can't believe how much came out of that bed!

Three varieties of lettuce have been planted next to my rosemary plant. Mmmmm, I'm looking forward to a fresh garden salad!

It isn't consistently warm enough to plant everything outside, and I don't have my front bed ready for my herbs, so the solution: Egg crates! How many days until the plants start coming up? I'll try to be patient...

Speaking of being patient, our little one is due in one month! A few people have requested pictures to see "the bump", so here is one that I got the other day.

Now, off to start dinner!