Our first four ducklings hatched yesterday. Felix gently welcomed this first, who arrived in time for a visit. More on their way! We check the incubator every couple of hours, so tiny feet don’t get trapped in the egg turning mechanism. Made for a poor night’s sleep, but that is the nature of babies.

We got to see Moogie’s eyes! She is an amazingly chill child.

Felix and Zeke basked in the sun.

My crocus are blooming! They began flowering on on March 23rd, but then a foot of snow fell on the 26th. Unfrozen soil allowed my flowers to survive!

The ducks loved the snow. The chickens, not so much.

Enough cool weather for Moogie to make use of her tiny hat.

We celebrated Easter early in Minneapolis…

…and then spent a quiet Sunday together.

I’m taking my time taping and mudding, if only because my knees don’t allow much floor work or time on a ladder.

Today I listen to rainy day music as the ducks revel in the wet.

A good day for asparagus soup (not local asparagus, alas) and red corn bread.

We baked our last winter squash today: sweeter than the kisses of Esmeralda. I made broth from the last of my soup bones today as well. We spend down our stores, reveling in the fruit of our labor and making way for the coming year’s bounty.

The heartbeat of the land quickens with increased sunshine. The vultures and robins returned before the snow. Sand Hill Cranes creak their love songs and the Great Blue Herons have begun nesting. Black birds and grackles return in clouds of racket. Red birds blaze in the tree tops. Eagles and hawks glide by, eying our chickens and ducks. Turkeys strut and fan. Poplar, cedar, maple and birch flower out, wanting to leaf any moment. The waiting is agony and joy wrapped together. So much death. So much life. This is springtime in Wisconsin.