Spring and New Life

Well, spring is here (finally).  Yesterday it was nice and warm, and I took a walk to the end of the road (and discovered that it's only about 30 minutes to the foothills of the mountains), which was wonderful--once you're out of town, you can see the flat valley extending as far as the eye can see that is eastern Georgia, and the length of the mountains which enclose it.  Today it's been showering, but other than being a bit chilly, that's no problem--I am, after all, from western Washington.  The plants are making sure to me that spring is finally here to stay--things are budding, we have lots of violets, and the garlic and onions (we have tons, at least of the garlic) are growing.  Ever have not just the onion bulb or garlic cloves, but the whole plant, green shoots and all?  Very tasty.  We got another baby cow yesterday (the other cow had one a few months ago, and I don't know about that one, but this one was totally unexpected), which is absolutely "dear," to quote my host sister.  When I got up this morning, it was jumping and butting heads with its brother playfully; unfortunately, by the time I got out there with my camera, my host father had fed them, so they were just munching away happily.  We've had a ton of eggs lately (perfectly coinciding with the beginning of Lent, of course), which means that those of us not fasting are eating a lot of them.  The rest are being saved (apparently, eggs are still good after almost fifty days of refrigeration, which I wouldn't have guessed).  We also just took fifteen of the fertilized ones (I now know two means of telling the difference), and put them down for the hens to lay on, so we should have some cute new chicks soon, too [I thought they said a couple weeks, but it is only now that we're getting some, in mid-April].  I've really come to love this natural lifestyle, with so much coming from the plants and animals here on the property.  It's wonderful food-wise (both as concerns healthiness of the food and its consistency and flavor--no matter what anyone says, it is very noticeable of a difference) and also in general for the joy of animal life, of seeing things grow, and of seeing new life born into the world.  A season of growth and life, spring is here.


In Christ,
Teopile/Theophilos Porter