CH Musings: Hibernation is over!

English: Brown Bear (Ursus arctos) Español: Os...

My mother must have forgotten to tell me that somewhere in our family lineage there was a grizzly bear, or perhaps a brown bear or other humongous creature that hibernates during the winter months.

I know there had to be a bear in the family tree because I have been hibernating. I just came out of my comfortable den in the last couple days. I don't go outside much during the winter months, even though this was a very mild winter. I always have tons of projects to keep me busy, inside.

With these last two days though, who could resist? Temps hovering in the 60- to 70-degree range. Windows are open, the breeze is wafting through the house. I'm feeling rejuvenated. It is all pretty inspiring.

I have tons of projects to do outside too. Trouble is, they are generally much more labor-intensive. I admit, I've never been really good at that sort of thing, but what the hay.

Speaking of hay--or more to the point--straw, that was the first thing I wanted to do.

2011 garden

I have been thinking about moving an old, rotting bale of straw that had been sitting in the old garden since it was abandoned. It was a total failure for multiple reasons. But, I wanted to use that straw to add volume and tilth to the soil in the new raised bed garden my husband built for me, pictured at right.

In its first year, last year, it was looking like it could have been wildly successful, had the deer not come to eat everything in sight one night. This year, I plan to take precautions, although I haven't quite nailed down the details. I'm thinking a chicken wire fence with bling (pie plates hanging from them), a little human hair, since I have plenty, and a bit of deer repellent. That ought to do it!

If anybody has any additional ideas, I'm all ears!

Hubby actually just finished building a second garden, just like the first. He built it around what had been a semi-circular herb garden. The far-too few herbs in it are those that lived through last summer's heat. They are growing nicely--rosemary, lemon balm, oregano, sage, thyme, and chives.

I should have lots of room to grow my veges.

So today, with the help of a wheel-barrow, I lugged the really heavy, water-logged bale of straw to the new garden. I separated its flakes and put a single layer in both the new and the old gardens to let it dry before we can till it in and add new soil.

Today was actually the second time I ventured outside. Yesterday I sat on the front porch a little just daydreaming about things that needed to be done. All that thinking exhausted me, so I came back in, but not before I took that ceremonial springtime walk through yard to look at what had started to grow. It was really windy, so I didn't have much luck getting pictures, but I did get a couple just to prove that spring has definitely sprung, here in the Ozarks.