Late April Days

Hello, friends.  Last week,  I was delighted to see male rose breasted grosbeaks at the feeder a couple of mornings.  I've seen them here in years past, but it's always a welcome sight, when they migrate through.  We had another cold spell, with lows in the 30's and 40's, early in the week.  While the woodstove was going, the veggie scraps were simmered, and I canned the broth the next day.  I made the decision, until we use up a good bit of the broth, to just directly add the veggie scraps to the compost for now.  We've got plenty of jars, for the moment.  We've been doing the inside/outside game with the seedlings, putting them on the porch during the warm days and nights, and bringing them back in for the cold ones.  We've never had luck with strawberries here, after trying them in strawberry pots, and in a few spots in the garden.  I decided to try transplanting some beneath fruit trees, which is a permaculture concept.  I'm not sure all of the first round made it, as it's been so dry, even with trying to water them.  We did receive the first measurable rain in a long time Saturday night, probably 1/10", with more in the forecast later in the week, so I plan to transplant more.   

J worked on integrating the chicks, over several days last week, with great success.  We figured they were close enough in age, and breathed a sigh of relief, when it worked out.  The smallest ones had been in a large box, in the same coop, so they'd been exposed to each other the whole time.  He pointed out a chick from the original batch, which appears to be a rooster.  Oh well, one should be OK, provided it's not aggressive.  It was warm enough (80's) that the door to their outside yard was opened a few days, and a few of the bigger chicks were beginning to venture outside.  We did lose two more this week, and those were the last of the first batch that were half the size of their "siblings", so we're hoping that's the end of that.  All but the one original chick that arrived looking poorly, from the second batch, seem to be thriving.  They appear to be a much hardier bunch.  

We shared tomato plants and sweet potato slips with one neighbor, and sweet potato slips with another.  The first neighbor brought eggs to share, which we couldn't use, and the other brought us three Fourth of July tomato plants, which we'd never heard of.  It'd be lovely to get some early tomatoes.  J planted sweet potato slips, and I fertilized them with compost extract.  Library books were picked up, while in town.  Golden paste was made for Guinness.  My initial meeting with the Dr's happened this weekend.  They went through a lot of information, during the visit.  I wrote down some of it, but am waiting to receive their typed recommendations, and a link to review the meeting, to wrap my brain around it all.  The info included imbalances found, many supplements that are not supporting me currently, a few that would be helpful to add, and some discussion on diet.  Though the Medical Medium info got me this far, things have been at a standstill for a long time now, and it feels time to be open to other possibilities.  I'll give an update, once I've had time to implement the changes.  Wishing you peace, comfort and support, during these last lovely days of April.