Go to the grocery store, chat casually at the post office, arrive 5 minutes early to a meeting and before long the conversation always gets to gardens: how fast the snow is receding? how deep the mud is on your boots? have your onions come up yet? We’re all comparing notes and wishing for the warm breath of Spring. Yesterday, while walking at the Stockton Lighthouse we heard that others were thinking of getting their peas into the ground this week, so when we came home we brushed back the seaweed to do the same…only to find ice and snow. The robins have come home but they’re working hard to get at the worms!

But there are plenty of other things to be done around here…we’ve started shearing and I’m really pleased to tell you that we’re working with a tiny wool mill in Waldoboro so that this year we’ll have more yarn and spinning batts to sell in the store.

Because we have more angora goat wool (mohair) than we have sheeps’ wool here in the campground, this year we’re partnering with Diane Hoppe of Heron Crossing Farm to blend our mohair with her beautiful Finn Sheep…and the bonus is that Diane is an absolute master at creating soft, naturally colored yarns in a myriad of shades for weaving, knitting and crocheting. Because I know myself and my weaknesses, the biggest stress in my days will be fighting the hoarding voice in my head that tells me to hide the yarn…it’s too precious to share! I know, I’m working on it.

Steve’s focus has been tree work…there’s a special window in our guys lives when the ground is hard enough to drive on without making ruts. The snow is gone but the weather is still warm enough that it doesn’t hurt to be outside all day…so they’ve been cleaning up the winter damage, identifying and dropping trees that need removal and marking out where the new plantings are going to go. Since our very first years, we’ve maintained the promise my mother made to plant two trees for every tree we cut or comes down. This moment of excitement comes to you via Steve’s phone this morning as they dropped this white pine to make more space for Mary’s dye garden:

Wishing for you: Wellness, time outdoors and a little dirt under your finger nails!