Spring-like days

On days like today it’s easy to forget that here it’s still winter. The birds are singing, the sun is out and there’s hardly a breath of wind.

The seeds are coming along nicely. I’ve just sown a third tray of mixed lettuce and a tray of rocket, but the chillies, tomatoes, celery, summer savoury, red basil and leeks are all germinating.

I love this time of year with new growth. I’m not so keen about the pricking out which comes next, but it’s worth it for the end game.

Freya continues her antics whenever we’re outdoors on the croft. She stays close and skips around us like a puppy. I was working in the polycrub today and she decided she’d ‘help’.

A friend who weaves willow baskets has planted some willow whips on the croft, and Hugh has been busy whenever the weather permits putting cardboard collars on them and mulching them all with woodchip bark to keep the weeds from strangling them.

Hopefully soon we’ll have a willow grove growing there! And Laura will be able to weave more with her own willow.

I’ve been doing a lot of baking recently. Leek and cheese pasties for hastily grabbed lunches, and sweet treats for rainy days watching the winter gales by the fire.

But more and more the days are stretching out, and we are able to spend longer outdoors each day.

Experience tells us that there will be more snow, so we’re not fooled by this. But it is lovely to feel the sun on your face after a long, wet winter.

It feels as if Spring is well on its way at last.