An End to Winter, but the beginning of Spring?

After our "animals on roofs" excitement, we are slowly lurching towards spring. It isn't the end of winter - last March brought 2 18" snowfalls and then a hailstorm on May 20th that devastated the tomato and pepper transplants. Cautionary excitement is the key, as Alan Greenspan may someday say about gardening.

This week's highlights

1. Mud Season Begins - It rained last night - Carol woke up and asked, "What is that noise?" By my count, this is the first rain we have had since the November ice storm - 4 months ago. All snow since then. More rain tonight and so flood warnings are up all over NY. Not an issue for our roads or basement, but it sure does make the paths a slog.
2. Reclaiming the "Pig Paddock" - after the Great Pig Escape of 2008 (quite a rhymer there), they were sent to a comparative "Attica" and then spent 6 weeks obliterating the super-secure northern goat paddock. It is about 1/8 acre and they tilled the beejesus out of it - I believe they unearthed rocks not seen since the glaciers retreated from here. We spent Saturday flattening it out as best we could and then Carol re-seeded it with the pasture blend. Not totally flat, but the slope, muddiness, and narrowness of the gate eliminates any tractor or mechanical flattening.
3. First Kiddings on the Horizon - we are 8 weeks out from our first kiddings, so we are sharpening the hoof trimmers and stocking up the BoSe for the ladies. That will be in 2 weeks when we can both take a day to get it done in one fell swoop. Our kiddings spread over 7 weeks (13 does), but they will mostly cluster in the first two weeks of May. Gotta recharge the kidding supplies and check out Hoegger.
4. Whether Weather Will Cooperate - the recent warm weather has been enough to unfreeze the top layer of soil so that I can close the hoophouse door - it had frozen open when the icestorm came and we couldn't budge it without taking it off the hinges. Now we can plant out the spinach seedlings (all 200 of 'em) and stop buying store spinach. About 2 weeks behind last year, but it was so wickedly cold that even if the door were closed, we couldn't have grown anything. That'll be next weekend (seedlings will be 3 weeks old and have their second set of leaves) and then we'll start tomatoes and peppers in their place under the lights in the house.
5. Time to Move the Chickens - The higher number of chickens (last year's August chicks are just now starting to lay) and the 3 Muscovy ducks have shredded the chicken yard - the long fall didn't help - so we are going to get them off the yard by moving them out front to last year's new block garden (60 x 30). Fence them in with temp electric fencing and figure out a Egg-mobile from one of last year's chicken tractors. 8 weeks should give a re-seeding enough of a time to grow before they return. And in return for dry feet, those lovely chickens will till and fertilize the front garden for the squash, beans, popcorn, and sunflowers!