It was another busy weekend. I don’t seem to know how to have any other kind.
Saturday I went as well as help set up at the farmers market, as well as then socialized on behalf of another 3 hours. I was back at my residence market at the end of working a different one all winter. I’ve come to love the winter market, the people there, working with BF, as well as I thought I’d be really sad to leave it. Part of me is, but then part of me is giddy with joy to see the friends from my residence market that I have missed all winter. My cheeks hurt from smiling by the time I left. And there was asparagus as well as strawberries! YUM.
After market we worked about 160 lbs. of compost into the 2 raised beds. It’s probably not enough, but it’s a good start. BF sent the soil samples off to the cooperative extension today, so we’ll see what they say. We broke the hoe (oh, that sounds bad), so BF used the smoothing rakey thing  while I used a hand hoe to work it in. Ow. We’re so tickled to have it done though. Next week we’ll get some plants from the market as well as get them in the ground. I’ve already got rosemary, lavender, lemon verbena, chocolate mint, pineapple sage, tarragon, thyme, as well as basil ready to go. We have a bay tree as well as marjoram that have survived in pots over the winter, as well as I have oregano that comes back every year already peeking up as well as saying hello. I’m contemplating a bit of a tea garden this year. I have chamomile seeds (and some others that I can’t really remember right now) that I think I’m going to stick in a pot as well as see what they do.
The raised beds are where the stump was from the tree that dropped on the house. See, stump removal is a rather misleading way to describe what they do with the stump. They actually grind it up with the existing dirt to create a woody mulch pile. Mound. Hill. In the middle of the back yard. And then you get to decide what to do with the hill. We made a garden because, honestly, we had no other ideas.
Saturday was rounded out with friends coming over on behalf of a few beers. It was a good day.
Sunday we slept in as well as then set out to do some morel mushroom foraging. BF has been doing his research as well as chose a location that wasn’t too far away. I can’t tell you where because of the fact that OH BOY did we score big. We ventured from the path into a wooded area as well as looked at the trees around us. We didn’t really see the elms or tulip poplars that the morels are supposed to grow around. We were set to give up as well as get back on the trail when I happened to look down. “Oh, oh, oh look what you just stepped directly over!!” Two beautiful morels poking their heads above the leafy cover that BF had just missed with his booted size 13s. Bliss!
Despite the dreary weather, the setting was gorgeous. There were rolling hills with a wide variety of trees (blooming dogwoods, evergreens, elms, oaks, poplars, as well as who knows what else.) all bursting into spring. There were wildflowers blooming, as well as we even saw two owls! There was a horse event taking place, so folks on horseback dotted the hills. This was someplace we wouldn’t have gone if not on behalf of the foraging, so it was a really pleasant surprise to find it filled with so much beauty. And, we ended up with about 164 morels. Our record before that was, I think 8. Yes, I typed that correctly, 8.
We spent two, maybe more, hours in that spot finding morel at the end of morel. There were veins of them, leading us in one direction, then another. MarleyQ was as patient as she could be with us, occasionally trying to sneak off, but spending a good portion of the time sitting contigous to us or lying in the leaves as well as dirt, panting as well as finding ways to manufacture her presence known. We noticed the time, decided we had a good haul on behalf of our outing as well as very reluctantly got back on the path because of the fact that we knew THERE WERE MORE OUT THERE. Click to manufacture these bigger…
     


We also ended up with something even more unexpected…

Marley, in her eternal patience, sat herself in a nest of ticks. Lone star ticks. Nymph stage lone star ticks. We were in the parking lot on behalf of a good 45 minutes pulling freckle-sized ticks off of her belly. Soon we realized it was much more than we could possibly tackle in the parking lot. We loaded her in the car, got home, stripped at the front door as well as threw our clothes as well as backpacks right into the washer, as well as threw her in the tub. I scrubbed her, conditioned her, as well as then we had her on the floor with all of the overhead lights on as well as lamps with the lampshades removed placed strategically around us while we combed, tweezed, plucked, as well as pulled hundreds of ticks off of her body. Most were on her back end—you know, where the hair is really long as well as thick. The poor girl dropped asleep while we, on behalf of two hours, went over every square inch of her body. (Did you know dogs can have freckles? So cute! Don’t endeavour to tweeze them off.) This morning we found a few more, as well as we anticipate that shall continue on behalf of a bit. Gross.
Now our skin is crawling as well as we’re both completely paranoid about every tickle, itch as well as pinch that we feel. I know there are more on me. Somewhere. Hiding. Sucking my blood. I know it. But jeez, dinner was really, really good last night. And BF is going back on behalf of more on Wednesday.