The kids have been on Spring break this week, but we have been working non-stop. We fertilized trees, worked on clearing the trees from the spot we want our farm driveway to go, tilled up the garden area, and planted trees, among other things. I am usually part of the manual labor force on our farm, but this time when I say, “we,” I mean Jamie. I rolled my ankle jumping on a trampoline at my nephew’s birthday party this past weekend and I wasn’t able to walk for about four days. Anytime someone says Spring break this week Jamie gets a look on his face that begs to differ.

Another task we took on this week was sorting through all the Murray Cypress trees that may or may not have been killed by the January ten degree weather we had this year. We thought we had lost them all. Looking out at the group, there is a lot of orange. Upon closer examination, there were several that had a greenish tint and some were undeniably  green in sections. We pulled out the ones we knew were dead, and we were left with 324 that we are still holding out hope for out of the original 510. Not a great survival percentage, but way better than the 0% we thought had survived. I am happy wth those odds.

Farm tasks need to get done, even when there are emergencies. In addition to my injured foot/ankle, we endured challenging weather. The rain didn’t stop us. We set up a canopy and just accepted that we would be covered with mud by the end of the day. The rain made the temperature cooler which was nice. Also, our newly potted trees got a good watering right away. We planted 126 Blue Spruce and 204 Murray Cypress trees. It was a family affair and we couldn’t have gotten them planted as quickly as we did without the kids’ help. It’s a wonderful feeling to know that your children are willingly working towards your family goal. Makes me think I did something right.