May

May is the month of eagerness. Eager to dive in to the first cutting of hay, but the ground is still too wet. Eager to plant the garden in between the raindrops. Eager to set aside indoor projects in favor of outdoor projects. Eager to say goodbye to our customary Ohio pallor and get the first bit of pink on our cheeks.

For the horses it means eagerness to shed out the remainder of their winter coats. This year like many in recent history, spring was essentially non-existent and we went straight to hot and humid. Rain needs the most help getting rid of her winter fluff and the suddenly hot weather meant many many cool down hose-offs.

May meant the return of the starlings. We really hate those little shits. They built a nest like this in our grill in one day. Three times. We eventually had to cover all the openings with chicken wire. They nest in the barn eaves in such great numbers we constantly find eggs on the ground, immature chicks and the cats have a field day.

A new batch of bees was successfully installed and we looked forward to alfalfa honey in the coming fall. 

The May storms brought an abundance of rainbows this year. Way more than normal, it was actually borderline creepy. We've had a few doubles on occasion but I rarely have my phone in my pocket - made it back outside in time for this one! No gold was anywhere to be found in that barn, just a bunch of goats...

Every spring we sort through all of our scrap wood from the winter projects and build a few things, usually for the garden. This year I thought an herb planting table would be nice, since for some reason its such a chore to walk to the garden when I'm making dinner. We thought a nice spot off the end of the deck would be convenient for daily access. Ivy thought so too. Apparently she is most fond of thyme. She ex-planted everything in under 24 hours, hence the chicken wire shield. Another example of function over form at Capra Lane. Her breath was killer though...

That scrap wood also collects in piles just waiting to be fuel for the season's first bonfire. Our flat patch of land provides colorful sunsets galore but we don't have much protection from wind so we have to be quite choosy when building a large fire. 

We did manage to get one field of grass hay in before the close of the month and although the yield wasn't high it helped to make the much larger alfalfa fields a bit less daunting come June.

Always looking for new ways to tire Ivy out, we thought a pool was in order. She is not a fan of the hot weather and spent many hours trying desperately to swim in 6" of water. I also caught Rog sitting in it one evening.

We did manage to get much of our garden planted by mid-May, we had a week of storms that seemed to split right over our house and allow us to get caught up a bit. 

Our strawberries thrive on complete and utter neglect - my kind of fruit! We had pretty high yields this year but many don't make it all the way to the house. I made a fatal mistake  by feeding one to Ivy the terrible and for the rest of the summer we fought her self-service attitude in every part of the garden.

I also apparently suck at planting lettuce. I can put seeds in the ground 2 weeks apart, 3 weeks apart and somehow its all ready at once. For the first time our spinach grew really well and didn't bolt or shrivel up prematurely. We tried to stretch out this crop as long as possible, knowing its trickier to grow as the hot weather sets in.

And on to June....and then I'm only behind by a quarter...