Spring Has Sprung
April 2, 2008
Written by: Katie
And I didn’t need no stinkin’ time changing ceremony to tell me so either. You can expect me to whine about Daylight Savings Time at least twice a year now. Because I’ve not found one person that likes it and the truth is we ain’t savin’ nothin’. Because we are such rebels and we balk all authority in our lives we have chosen to not adhere to DST. I mean, we are not stupid, we do change our clocks but instead of doing everything one hour earlier or later than normal we just change the times that we do everything. So now we are getting up, eating and going to bed one hour later than we were. We are so smart.
But about spring. Remember all of that rain we got? Everything went from dull, grey and dead to alive, growing and very green in about 48 hours. No one warned me that I shouldn’t blink or I might miss it. We literally woke up one morning and everything was vibrant once more. I didn’t know that was scientifically possible. So we caught the planting bug.
While the boys (except the twins) were gone at the property the rest of us ran to WalMart and each child picked out one packet of seeds. I also got two tomato plants and two strawberry plants. I’m told that the berry’s may take over the bed. How’s that statement to make you jealous, Diane? In the picture above the twins are using kitchen spoons to dig holes for their seeds. Don’t tell Jeff.
When the boys came home I put them to work. Plant these!! Jason took care of the strawberries. John was not attempting to lobotomize Jason. I promise.
John helped Jonah. Or Jonah helped John. I’m not sure which. And that tomato plant looks mighty sad.
You should have seen it after the hail the next night.
And they watered. I’m not sure exactly why the kids are pouring water into a different cup before watering but I try not to ask questions. I just live here.
I’ll be sure to take pictures when the little plants peek through the earth.
April 2nd, 2008 at 8:45 am
Ya know, if you say germination twice you can count all of that planting as school;)
April 2nd, 2008 at 9:25 am
I appreciate the refreshing honesty in the fact that you say, “Because we are such rebels and we balk all authority in our lives “… wow. most people live this way and don’t admit it. Why is that? Do they think we will stone them?
So — do you have trouble with YOUR authority Kate? I seem to pick and choose which authority I will honor… what kind of example is that to my children? ::sigh::
Oh well —
It is still too wet up here to plant anything. We haven’t even tilled our garden yet. Akkk.. well — that’s OK — my seeds have arrived in the mail yet… so I’m not stressing.
April 2nd, 2008 at 9:27 am
But, Linda, that would have Katie WAAAAAAYYYYY over her requisite number of days of school! :)
(Just kidding, Katie, I get a kick out of the “only x number days of school” comments!)
April 2nd, 2008 at 9:50 am
It has suddenly sprung here too and now I’m itching to get to the garden center! Unfortunately with a resource fair to do this weekend for MUS it will have to wait till next week. *sigh* Have to make the most of the whole 3 weeks of good weather we have a year here in England. Hey! I just realised that we have about as much summer here as you have school in your house! Heheheh!
April 2nd, 2008 at 9:59 am
Well, I know one person who LOVES daylight savings time; my husband. He doesn’t mind working in the dark in the mornings, but he loves having an extra hour of light to work in in the evenings (he’s a farmer). He always has less energy during the winters (I think because of reduced sunlight) but he just seems to bound with energy when the days become longer, and especially when daylight savings time starts. He just wishes they would stay on daylight savings time all year long.
April 2nd, 2008 at 10:57 am
Hurray for spring! So much I want to plant so little time.
April 2nd, 2008 at 10:57 am
My hubby like daylight savings time as well. But we would just like to leave the time there all the time. He loves having more time to be outside after he gets home from work. Switching back and forth is annoying. :)
Love digging in the dirt! I think I’m going to pull up all the ugly stuff in my front yard and plant strawberries. Yummy. I’m waiting for my neighbor to come till my garden in the back yard. Tomatoes and cucumbers here we come!
April 2nd, 2008 at 11:00 am
I’m another that LOVES DST. It is wonderful having longer days, and our kids still go to bed at the same time….they have grown up going to bed at the same time whether it’s light or dark out, why change now? :) And I wake up in the dark every morning whether it’s daylight savings or standard time….the sun doesn’t wake up that early no matter what “time line” it is in :) ).
Here in CA I am WAY behind the planting curve, but what’s new? I’ve always been way behind the curve on planting here :) The one year that I was planting “on schedule”, I lost my entire HUGE garden to a late freeze and hail….I said “this is for the birds!” and went back to planting late (on MY schedule :) )……guess that makes me a rebel, too, huh? :)
What variety of strawberries did you plant? If they are the type that send out runners, then yes, in a year or two, they will probably have taken over your bed…..so I guess you’ll just have to build another bed, huh? :) Because who wants to take out strawberry plants? I’d LOVE to have a bed full of strawberry plants! :)
April 2nd, 2008 at 11:07 am
Oh Katie!
Be so very careful planting this early in MO!
Especially tomatoes, they the ground real warm, you could try those wall o water things or 5 gallon buckets we have likely not seen the end of the frost here.
An elderly lady from Ark always says, thunder in Feb, frost in May!
I always plant tomatoe plants after mothers day it may seem that those early gardners have a jump but we usually harvest at the same time. I dont have to plant twice :)
Blessings to you all as you enjoy the Ozarks Spring with all its splendor!
April 2nd, 2008 at 11:15 am
It looks like they’re pouring cups of ice water for the poor little plants. :-)
April 2nd, 2008 at 11:17 am
Oh boy, daylight saving’s time. I despise DST! We are in Indiana, in fact, I grew up here, and lived for most of my life happily without it. But now, in a certain government officials infinite “wisdom”, we have now converted to DST in almost all of our counties, including mine. What a pain. I even read a newspaper article this year that said that all of the money that was supposedly going to be saved by reducing energy bills and the like did not happen. In fact, the money expended increased. Brilliant.
April 2nd, 2008 at 1:27 pm
Wall-o-waters were mentioned by a previous commentor. I need them for here in Kansas also. I’ve heard they work really well and aren’t all that expensive to keep your tomato plants warm and toasty through the cold nights.
I love DST, but we have a little farm so we need all the daylight we can get. Plus our sheep and chickens get more pasture time which they love : )
Hope you have a wonderful day!
~Gretchen
April 2nd, 2008 at 2:17 pm
Oh how fun!! I love seeing the kids working together on a project. My favorite with our kids is always planting in the Spring too. Unfortunately, we still have four feet snowbanks. lol Last year I motivated the boys to till up the entire veggie garden plot by hiding plastic dinosaurs they had to find like an archaeologists. The shovels went flying!! :O)
April 2nd, 2008 at 3:36 pm
I’m there with you Jenni. I too grew up in Indiana without DST, and still am not used to it. I’m also there with you about the ‘official’. But I haven’t lived there for a few years, but my family still does and they are all feeling the effects of his “wisdom” in different areas.
Love that you are getting your kids involved with plants. It is never too young to start. Besides, gardening is a continuous learning experience . . . you will be wwaaayyy over your quota of schooling days if you are not careful.
April 2nd, 2008 at 4:24 pm
Katie,
I am trying to e-mail you but the e-mail I have won’t work. Did you change e-mail adresses or something?? E-mail me or call me please. I have a question for you. :-)
Candice
April 2nd, 2008 at 5:26 pm
DST. YUCK.
It looks like ya’ll are having a total blast with the planting! We haven’t planted here just yet, but Grandma says she’s about ready to start. The kids and I are planting some carrots (purple and white ones too, not just orange!), two different colored beets, three different corns, and some flowers.
April 3rd, 2008 at 10:04 am
LOL, never got the whole DST thing but now that I’m married I appreciate it along with dh. He works as an engineer and can set his own hours - he enjoys having a longer evening. I mean, he has enough day light to mow which is a plus for me and our 2yo who follows him around the yard pushing his Tonka truck.
Yeah - it’s waaay early for tomatoes. I’m in KS near Wichita and I will probably plant my toms last of all. I do have them growing away atop my dryer, though, the wee green things. When I get to missing warm weather I go back and mist all of my starts. :)
I’m planting Alpine strawberries this year. I hope they work!