Working on the Garden and New Puppies

 Dear friends,

As you can see, we've been busy feeding the local goldfinch population! I've never had a single finch eat from a thistle sock before, but they've emptied out three in the last week, and I had to buy four more today! Did I mention it's expensive? But the little birds bring us so much joy with their singing, it is worth every penny.

We've been working outside when the weather permits, building raised beds and putting in some cold-hardy crops like lettuce, pak choy, arugula, and broad beans.  In the picture below you'll see three of my helpers digging a small pond for a memorial garden in the front. We are going to put lilies around it for our Victoria Lily, who died at birth ten years ago.

We'll be building a rose arbor as well, an fencing it all in so the deer don't come dine on them. We have lots of multiflora roses around the property, so I'm hoping the deer will eat them and leave our nice ones alone. We'll see how my theory pans out!

We picked up some "Craigslist Special" puppies that a person not far from us was giving away, to be future guard dogs on the homestead. We saw a bobcat the other day on the road by our house, and have heard coyotes howling nearby, so good guard dogs will be helpful once we get chickens.

I hope that you are having a wonderful March so far, and enjoying the greening of the spring (if it is where you are!).

Love,

Marqueta