Spring is nearly here, and I for one am ready for it. I enjoy winter and all, but this year it’s gone on too long. I think my sentiments on this derived from the fact that last summer was so overcast and rainy – it feels as though it has been winter for about 18 months now. Enough of skiing, knitting and Hygge; let’s get going with the spring!

That said, the fact that the snow and the temps in the twenties have lingered past the vernal equinox (and look to do so through most of next week), I’m a bit caught off guard by the fact that warmer weather is imminent. In spite of how eager I am for it to hurry up and get here, I’m not ready for it. For example, I’ve all but forgotten that Flora is due this week. I’ve been checking her daily for signs of labor, yet it still hasn’t registered with me that we’ll have goat kids and be back to milking in a matter of days. Her tail ligaments have been loosening, which is a fairly accurate sign that kidding should be within days. Allegedly, once you can no longer find these two ligaments just above the base of the tail you will know that the doe will deliver within 12 hours. Flora’s are certainly more pliable than they’ve been, but even as a novice goat shepherd I can still locate them. They’re mushy, for lack of any other descriptive term, but definitely present. This means that we’re at least 12 hours away, although admittedly that’s not a long time to get everything together should we suddenly be unable to find the tail ligaments.

Meanwhile, Rachel and I have have been prepping for another aspect of Spring that’s on our to-do list for the year: beekeeping. We attended a meeting last Tuesday about bees, honey and the challenges facing beekeepers today. Every book and every blog that I’ve read on the subject of beekeeping strongly suggests joining local clubs and associations to learn the trade, as the practice is heavily influenced by local climate, local foliage, local pests and diseases, local this, local that… you get the picture. In other words, this is one venture where books and YouTube will only get you so far, as information might be irrelevant or even detrimental to you depending on what’s going on in your immediate area. The meeting was presented by a beekeeper from Cornell University and was highly informative, and we were able to order 2 nucs (starter bee colonies) for sometime around Memorial Day. As I’ve mentioned before, beekeeping as a hobby involves a relatively low investment of time and money, but even in spite of the fact that there isn’t much to do, we still haven’t gotten around to doing it yet.

Lastly, we ordered a few new fruit trees. Apparently the county has the opportunity to buy trees, shrubs and bushes at a discount. So, we got 20 blueberry bushes (they come in lots of 10, and you need at least 2 varieties to cross pollinate), 2 Northern Spy apple trees, and a mix of flowering shrubs that are good for honeybees. I planned on renting a brush hog to cut a path to the back of our property where there’s some open space to put such things, but alas, the snow has prevented me from doing such. So, we’re not ready for that either. Are you seeing a pattern here?

What I really need is for there to be one, sudden, out of the blue 70 degree day to give me the proverbial kick in the pants to get moving. Either that or Flora needs to kid soon – that should be all the adrenaline rush I need to get going on everything.