Oh, March...you are going to be busy!

Modern Scribe Photography

So far, March has been a damn sight better than February!

Now, mind you, we woke on Tuesday to snow that didn't stop falling until it was 6 inches! So we did the logical thing; played dress-up, went outside, and had Sarah direct a photo shoot of me mincing around in the tumbling snow! It was a great way to spend a cold, gray day - cause I can tell you, the fascination of just staring at the snowflakes gracefully falling went away about mid-December...

But this evening, as I gaze around, I see more green on the ground than the frosty white and muddy red clay. The birds are out thick everywhere, singing and fussing and picking the ground for the insects that are rousing. It has certainly been warm enough to imagine their reemergence - we were just at 60 degrees on both Saturday and this fine Sunday afternoon.

I left myself sleep in until 11am on Saturday...it's been a long week, after all! Post-coffee, I  set myself busy to making some Chai Honey. I have to fill the abundance of Etsy orders that poured in last week! Then I get the call that I have empty shelves at the local shop, the Candler, NC "House of Herbs."  I put three jars of honey in just about a week ago, and two of them have already sold!

Feeling motivated and accomplished, I put on jeans and boots and ambled down to the lower lot to poke around the future garden plot.  I turned the compost and found a couple fat and wriggling earthworms living in there. I welcomed them, thanked them for their hard work, and set off to work with Eric.  He has been checking our scrounged lumber, pulling apart pallets, and measuring out designs for the chicken coop.  As he worked away at our free lumber supply, I got busy picking up trash out of the dirt. It's something I do every time I visit the lower lot, yet I've only barely made a dent.

You see, whoever lived here before us wasn't as conscientious as we are with the disposal of trash...there's was a burn barrel that got dumped regularly. We are forever picking up bits of plastic and glass, metal cans, aluminum foil remnants - it seems like an inexhaustible supply of tiny trash bits that have malevolent intent and really want to stick in your finger when you pick it up!


Until we get the yard clean, raised beds are one of the garden projects that we'll be using the pallets for.  As we develop our plans, I'll be sure to post the progress...for now, here's our To-Do list for March:

• Build Chicken Coop (scrounged lumber, fence panels, pallets)
• Set up rain barrell
• Modify pallets into Raised Beds
• Gopher/Vole/Groundhog proof the garden beds
• Varmint-proof the Coop
• Feed and work the compost pile
• GET CHICKENS! 
• Buy local, heirloom veggies that will thrive here (zone 7b)
• Herbal First Aid Class (March 15, 6-9pm @ AB Tech, Madison campus, Free!)
• Spring Garden School (March 20, 8:30-3:30 @ AB Tech, Ferguson Center, $10)
• Healing From the Hive, Apitherapy Class (March 22, 6-9pm @ AB Tech, Madison campus, Free!)
• Continue to invest time in building and promoting my Etsy shop 
• Invest time in my local community by joining farm markets and supplying local shops with my products
• Take other classes that come up that can help me with chickens, bees, gardens!!

Phew! All that, and it isn't even technically SPRING yet...what do you all have planned for your March?

Visit "The Pixie's Pocket" on Etsy!

Photo and Design by Modern Scribe Designs