Blustery day.

The wind is blowing and it's snowing and the temperature is very cold today. It looks like it will be another week of hanging out in the house as much as possible, as the forecast for the week is cold. In past years, starting the first week in March, we head out into the bush and harvest pussy willow. This year it will be postponed for at least a week or two, as the pussy willow are much easier to force when the weather has warmed up outside and they are starting to break dormancy. Will definitely need the snow shoes this winter as we have lots of snow in the area.
The cold weather also delayed my seed planting. We usually begin mid February for some flowers and herbs that are slower growing, but I only started planting yesterday. We planted Rosemary, Sweet William's, Foxy Foxgloves, and the Castor Beans. Today I am going to pot up the tubers and bulbs I overwintered, such as Dahlia's, Calla Lily's and Colcocasia Esculenta (Elephant Ears). This is my first year I have overwintered the Elephant Ears and am very pleased with how well they did. Almost all of them are starting to form new shoots. Will have those available for Spring sales at the Market. We start everything in the house until the weather is consistently warmer outside, so when you walk into our house right now the first thing you smell is dirt. I guess a gardener would only appreciate that smell in their house. But it is another smell that brings back many fond memories.
The wildlife is very active around here right now. We see lots of deer and coyotes. Also had a porcupine hang around the farm for a couple of weeks recently. One day while in the house, movement outside caught my eye, so I looked out the window and saw a deer running down the road past our farm and about 100 yards behind the deer, a coyote was running trying to catch up to the deer. I wonder who won the race. There also was one coyote in our garden by the pasture whom was trying to catch the magpies and crows. This was very comical to watch.

A pelican posing for pictures in California.