As Gracie and I worked, yesterday morning, hauling out fork-fulls of winter bedding and spreading it across the corridor field, flock after flock of geese flew overhead, crying out with their distinctive melancholic call. But they were flying North. No need for melancholy. They have decided that the warm-up is on its way. I am on their side.
I saw three fat Robins yesterday and heard the call of the Red Winged Blackbird. Spring is on its way. TRUE!
If you are in the same hemisphere as The Farmy: pat yourself on the back, I will help – Pat, Pat, Pat!! I think we made it to the other side – us warriors of the winter. There will be more weather but winter has lost its grip. Spring is on its way!
Am I pregnant yet? 
We don’t know Poppy, darling. Time will tell and all that!
Poppy went into Standing Heat yesterday morning. It was not a perfect heat, but My Pig Mentor and I decided to breed her anyway as the semen waiting in its little bag was not going to last much longer. Tane the little boar did his job well, snuffling with her and getting her excited. In fact HE got a wee bit excited too and puddled out to see if Tima might want to share his excitement, he began to butt her in the side (pig foreplay) and she turned on him showing her teeth, squealed, spun like an eel and bit him. He backed off in a hurry and went straight to bed. 
When the girl says no she means NO. Pigs know these things. And apparently Tima is still a virgin.
The tiny glass house is in full production, plants everywhere. And the tomatoes are already coming out to harden off in the weak almost spring sun. 
The promise of summer is like a drug. We are drug along in its wake. In fact – like yesterday – we run ahead of it!
Albeit very, very slowly.
Gracie has gone. The things she has seen this visit! And now- She has climbed back on her train for Wisconsin and the university. She and I are hoping she can make it back one more time before the term is over and she goes back to Korea. Then, she has decided to try and make a roof top garden on top of the apartment building where she lives in Korea. She is going to make her boyfriend carry bags of potting-mix up in the lift. We both had a wee giggle about that. She loves the farm.
Oh I almost forgot to tell you. I was standing scratching Lady’s head and saw her belly move. Her calf was dancing a tango inside there. I kept double checking with my brain that I was seeing what I was seeing but it was definitely little hooves jigging in there. Lady A just watched me solemnly and leaned her head in further for a scratch. She loves her head to be scratched behind her ears. But now we know she has a live calf in there and her udder is starting to fill out ever so slightly.
I have given them both the lecture about NOT calving while I am in Portland (the 27th – 29th) for the weekend but they just blinked and gently cited Murphy’s law. Have you seen a cow blink. It is like a tide. Closing in and then seeping out. Liquid. Ordained. “What is, what is… relax” – those eyes say.”Que Sera Sera” (Are cows multi lingual?) This is how a cow thinks.
Time to get to work.
I hope you have a lovely day, Oh I wish you were here.. all of you.. we would have the winter cleaned out of the barns in no time.
Your friend on the farm
celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
52 responses to “Spring Sounds”
So pleased the weather is changing for you! I would love to give you a hand 🙂
Your words and photos today are little rays of sunshine and laughter radiating across the globe, making me smile. Spring is definitely there, even from here I can feel it, as I can sense autumn for us. It’s wonderful how each season has its own nature, even winter & the humid days of summer which I enjoy but could do with a little less of. It’s lovely Gracie will create her own little Farmy garden in Korea 🙂
We are having amazing weather here which is very unusual for this time of year. Wish I could send you some! Going to be 68 degrees tomorrow and I haven’t had to turn the heat on in a week.
What a wonderfully happy post which will set each of us up also for the day warm and rearing to go ! Love the sunbaking contingent and Poppy’s face . . . but most of all loved clicking on the computer just a tad ago to find yesterday’s misty farmy picture as my background. I had forgotten the koalas were gone and just stared at the evocative mist so much clearer on my big screen! Hello to the spring prairies . . .
I love how great everything looks in the glasshouse!
I am a day late with commenting. Spring has sprung well every second day at least. I suppose nature is being gentle on our eyes after months of endless greyness. This morning was frosty with several signs warning of ice on my to the opticians. It sounds like a Piggy paradise party was had over at the Farmy. Poor tane being rejected! He does look so rejected in that photo.