Homestead Update: Waiting for Spring

It's early February, and as such, I'm absolutely positively fed up with dark, cloudy, wet, wintery weather. To make up for the feeling of discontent with the lingering winter season, I'm spending my time doing a bit of pre-spring spring cleaning, planning out the garden guilds and plantings, getting a lot of reading done, and continuing to add to our homestead store inventory. I've got to prune the apple and chestnut trees, the grape vines, and "hedge" the Osage hedgerow. All of those things must be pruned in dormancy, and it looks like this is as cold as it's going to get. The plums, cherries, and peaches will be pruned following their flowering. I actually learned that last year, and so hope to have a better yield (or any yield) this year as we have painstakingly cared for these little trees for the last 5 years and are excited to finally see them produce fruit. I've also got some fiber arts projects that I'm either finishing up before the outdoor busy season begins, or, I'm making the decision to "table" them until later. Nursing an infant is a perfect time for reading or knitting and crocheting, so with my imminent future in mind, I'm making sure I have a plethora of books on my "To Be Read" (TBR) list, and things to keep my hands busy so that I don't fall asleep holding New Baby #5 come June. To celebrate my birthday, I've made the decision to be kind to myself and completely "unplug" for the day. So I will be pouring my time in to spending time with my family, reading, or fiber arts, or any of the other pass times that bring me joy. My husband gave me an early birthday gift of some new Sloggers boots! My current pair had been worn out, insoles long gone, and developed mysterious leaky holes in the soles, particularly in the right boot. It was so nice last night to come in from barn chores with warm, dry feet! What a gift! Here's to one more year of stewarding God's goodness!