It was warm with a wee shower of rain. And without hesitation, as though the grass had been crouched on its toes, clover eyes screwed shut in concentration listening for the sun, feeling for the moist warm showers, the fields leapt up and grew green. In a day.
There is still not enough grass to let the animals out into the fields. 
But the suddenness of the green is magnificent. The animals are trying to be patient.
Their Waiting Rooms are big and sheltered but no-one is pretending to be thrilled. It will be a few weeks yet before we get the required 6 – 8 inches of grass. But we still have Mississippi hay so we are good. We want enough grass for the whole summer.
The lawns are suddenly green though, enough to lie on.
Little Boy Blue is a stunningly dependable pup. He sat on the verandah whenever I was inside yesterday, popping out into the garden for rest stops then puddling back up the steps to his bed. The first night, even though I toileted him, he had a few accidents at the verandah gate so last night I left the gate open to the garden. He popped in and out by himself and was tucked up in his bed fast asleep every time I checked. I have never let a pup make this kind of decision before. He has Big Dog in there with him so I think this is helping. TonTon has never been trustworthy enough to leave out at night, so this is a good sign that we may have found the guard dog for the farm that we have been looking for to take over for Cooder who is so deaf now he does not even hear me calling him in to dinner. I have to take his food and go and find HIM.
No wonder Blue slept all night, he had a very busy day. He had to follow me everywhere I went, and if my footsteps crossed with Johns he would follow him. Though he is still afraid of the noisy barn and prefers to wait outside, he investigated the garden as I worked, stole things out of my pockets and ran away with them, then helped dig out weeds.
It is important not to accept behaviour that can become a problem later on even with a very young pup, and especially with this bright bossy breed, so the digging in the garden and chewing on my fingers and knocking over of weed buckets was gently discouraged. But the cuddles and running was encouraged! Look at that face!
I have decided not to teach Blue to retrieve. This is Ton’s game and I want Blue to have other work. Plus, it has been hard to get TonTon to focus on herding when all he wants to do is retrieve. He is very good at finding Daisy and bringing her in for the milking twice a day (not hard in the winter) so this will still be Ton’s job too. There are still plenty of jobs for Blue.
The peacock pen was finished and Tui, Pania and Kupa, who have spent the last two days watching it being built, just walked straight in. After all, up high in the barn is their favourite place to be. When the weather is good the big doors are opened so they will also have sun and lots of fresh air. I hate to shut them up. But it is only while the gardens are fragile and it really is a huge unused space in the summer. And Kupa will not be in there for long we hope.
And look at this …
Daffodils came out yesterday too. Literally. What a day! Good morning!
Have a lovely day. I wonder what today will bring?! See you tomorrow.
love celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
57 responses to “A little bit of green popped through yesterday”
Your daffs are a bright and perfect leap into Spring. It’s all come together at the Farmy after the last few dreary weeks and peahen crimes – there’s yellow and green and a new pea palace topped off by a Blue 🙂 Ah, the stealing… our Blue Bo collected overnight over a dozen non-matching shoes from the neighbourhood onto our lawn, and when the neighbour’s were building would help herself to their tools – Kiwi builder beware 🙂
oops, imagine the shoes on your lawn!! funny!! c
Ah! Reading this was a lovely respite in my gloomy, frustrating day. Love that little Blue and love that you are already disciplining as opposed to affection, affection, affection like several of my friends. (And then they wonder why the dog doesn’t listen to them!) Give all the animals hugs for me. 😉
With children and pets it is always a good idea to start off as you wish to carry on.. you can reason with kids later on but not with dogs! c
The daffodil is such a lovely sign of Spring. It’s lovely to see the green grass. What a cute puppy. One of my dogs has started losing her hearing. It’s so sad. I also have to find her to get her to come to dinner – she used to come running as soon as she could hear the tinkering of her dinner bowl coming out of the cupboard. These precious pets age too quickly xx
They do, lucky they have us!! c
That face!! Looks like Blue’s managed to charm Ton into playing in a very short period of time.
it was a short period for some reason blue wants to push his luck by chewing on Tons tail! not a good idea! c
ha, ha! I thought you were going to say Ton’s toy, but tail is much more bold and yes, not a good idea at all!
Wow, amazing the grass grows so quickly. Over here in little ole NZ the days are getting shorter, there is a sudden chill in the air, daylight saving has finished…..I’m almost weeping, the summer has been so good. Our Emma dog is so deaf she can’t here us anymore and spends alot more time inside the front door sleeping as she can’t hear us telling her to go outside. She is 16 now. Blue looks so cute, what a lucky wee fella to have been taken home by you Ce…great to grow up on the farmy. Off to mow lawns and get some veges in the garden for winter, have a great day Ce.
SIXTEEN! how did that happen! morning deb, sister from another mother! c
What a happy trip over the Pond!! Daisy and Queenie so obviously enjoying being able to lie down in the sunshine . . . and then those gorgeous photos of Blue – so curious but so relaxed with TonTon! I put the Tilly and Blue Murphy photo back on the desktop: every friend who has seen THAT one has gone ‘ooh’! Blue can wait, tho’ would so like to give him a cuddle [yes, a no-no from a stranger!] !
I love that shot too.. and am still trying to get an update, they still stick there heads through looking for a bottle, i really need to wean them.. c
Uh oh, another dog to make ours jealous. Boy what a cutie!
LIttle Boy Blue!!! – I am drooling with envy, he sounds utterly adorable… I must stop gushing, but oh, I’m so envious… when little dogs love you – they Really love you !!!
I walked by one of the spirea today and had to take a second look. What was bare twigs a few days ago is covered in pretty green leaves. Amazing what a little sun can do.
Loved that happy face on Blue. Glad spring is finally there for you.
OMG, what a happy puppy face!
Hurray! the grass is greening, the puppy is learning and the daffodils are singing their yellow song.
He’s gorgeous. I wish daffodils still meant spring here, we’ve had them since December. 🙂