With the exception of today, spring is in the air!  The grass is starting to green up and the horses are very happy about that!  We are sharing their enthusiasm because that means we don't have to make the weekly round bale run. The only down side to grass is mowing the yard which needs to be cut twice a week. And why is it that the grass always grows best in the places you don't want it...like the garden and arena. Ever notice that?

The temperatures are mild and I will start on my fence painting project in a few days. We only have a 50' section left to install which will only take a couple of hours to do.

A friend's teenage son will be coming over tomorrow to help me with a couple of projects including hauling the compost over to the garden area. He's been wanting to earn some extra cash. I'm happy to see kids who have the desire to work for things they want. Beats just wanting to sit around and play video games. While he is working on the garden for me it will free up my time to work the horses and finishing that section of fence with Josh.

We went to the big auction in Chouteau on Saturday. This is one of our favorite things to do away from the farm. The auction is in an Amish and Mennonite community. The setting...a 160 acre cow pasture (cows included!). It is so much fun! They have the sale on the first Saturday of every month; rain or shine. For those interested here is their link. www.chuppsauction.com . The consignment sale is what we attend. They even sell lumber and building materials. Last month, we picked up 25 new chickens of various ages and breeds;  Americaunas, Black Australorps and Barred Rocks. Josh got 2 pallets of 2 x 6 x 10's for under $100! That's what we have been building horse fence with. Oh and my surprise for the day was a pet rabbit....not a fancy rabbit, just your average black bunny.  For this month's trip we actually made it home with nothing that eats! The treasures scored this time...an Excalibur food dehydrator. I am so excited about that find. Got another pallet of 2 x 6's, some kitchen odds n ends, a few halters and lead ropes and several tall stacks of food storage buckets. Those buckets are so handy! I love that they have rubber gasket seals in the lids too...moisture and bug proof.  I'm not sure how many I ended up with but they filled the bed of the dually, LOL. That should hold us for a good long while.

We'll probably plow the garden next weekend when it dries out a bit. We planted 500 onions sets last year and still ran out. I think I'll double that amount this year. I'm also adding another asparagus bed, expanding the strawberry beds since the strawberries have developed a wanderlust. Rhubarb and horseradish will be new this year as well pear and apple trees. We're craving spinach, mesclun mix and snow peas so I will get those seeds into the ground next week as well.

I'll be making another trip to Chouteau on Tuesday...not for an auction but to pick up our pork. The hog dressed out bigger than we thought it would and that's ok too! Can't wait to try that bacon. There's a Mennonite butcher over there and came highly recommended. I'm sure it will be great.

I'm off to mix up some of my homeade rice pilaf side dishes since it's not a very nice day outside. I usually make enough to last seveal months. It's a great time saver and no chemicals or preservatives. Now that I have a dehydrator I'll experiment with adding dried veggies to the mixes.

Have a great weekend everyone.