Well, That Was Different

I can honestly say that this has been a March unlike any I have ever known. We started with a quick get-away to Myrtle Beach where the weather was decidedly gloomy.  Came home and made a bunch of sausage with the kids and grandkids, and began syrup making for this year.

And then, life as we know it changed.  DH was ordered to work from home. So, the desk in the study, which has largely been used as a catch-all in the last 4+ years, had to become a work space once more.

Another big change was that my usual shopping method of stocking up on groceries once a month couldn't happen.  My shopping date hit right as people were being told to work from home, or that they weren't going to be working for the next few weeks (teachers, etc), and so when I went to the store the panic buying was beginning, and I couldn't get a month's worth of anything.  Which meant I've had to go to the grocery store weekly (or twice a week sometimes) rather than once a month plus maybe one more time to restock on produce and dairy.

Ironic that since we've had a lockdown, Stay Home order from the governor, I've actually had to go to the store more than I do when we're allowed to roam about freely.

My cooking routine, however, is largely unchanged.  Since we hardly ever eat out and I've cooked from scratch forever, I'm still baking bread, making pizza by hand, and all the other things I do in my kitchen but most Americans don't.

cabbage rolls

making ricotta for lasagna

finished ricotta

The syrup season has been a crappy one, if I may be blunt. The weather has mainly been too cold, too warm, too rainy, or too windy for the sap to run.  As a result, I've only boiled down one more batch of syrup, which yielded 1 qt and 1 pt.  The local wildlife have been checking out my sap buckets in the woods, as evidenced by the muddy paw prints left behind.

This looks to be our last stretch of days below 50 degrees, so I plan to go out and pull taps tomorrow.  Will either boil sap tomorrow evening or on Thursday after work, depending on how much is actually in the buckets and how long it will take to finish into syrup.

raccoon print

finishing off in the kitchen

I had started my pepper and tomato seedlings indoors in late February, and they have grown enough that last weekend I transplanted most of them into larger containers.  They will continue to live indoors in these containers for another 6-8 weeks before going out to the garden.

Since I work on a farm, I am considered an essential worker and get to leave home to go to work everyday like normal.  Which means I still get to see my horse even though I'm not working with him much currently.

Because I'm still driving 5 days each week, the Suburban continues to roll closer to my 300,000 mile goal on the odometer.  We hit 263,000 this month.

I have been doing more sewing than usual.  I made two quilt blocks for a forum quilt I'm involved in each year.

I also made some hot pads as part of Surprise's upcoming birthday present.  I was tipped off that she likes cows, and there is a really cute cow block pattern in Farm Girl Vintage 2.  So. . . 

in process

finished

There has also been knitting going on, but those pictures are waiting for April's Yarn Along post.

Outdoors, I managed to get DH to do some adjusting of my clothesline setup.  The posts have been leaning inward for years, needing to be pushed back upright with the tractor when the ground is soft.  It's soft now, and I can easily go without using the clothesline for several more weeks since April is usually rainy month.  The timing was perfect to get those posts fixed and let them sit a good while to firm up before needing my clothesline. While we were at it, I decided that I might as well take off the old cotton lines and just put new ones up when I'm ready to hang clothes.

I also decided to actually have DH pull the post on the far end, and move it about six feet closer to the other post.  With only 2-3 of us home, I really don't fill the entire clothesline with laundry like when I was raising four kids and doing 1-2 loads of laundry every single day.  A shorter span would work just fine, plus it would be less unsupported weight to put strain on the posts.  Hopefully they will stay straight longer.  Plus, there is a spruce tree near the far post that had grown big enough that in a few more years it's branches would be able to be touched by laundry hanging (and blowing) on the line.  Now that the post is moved, that tree probably won't interfere with my laundry for a decade at least.

post pulled

both posts in the ground and straightened

That about wraps up what's been happening at this little place here since I last posted.  We'll see what April has in store for us; currently the news reports are that Michigan will remain on Stay Home until April 30th, if not longer.