Snow

I woke up this morning to white stuff flying. I don't mind snow but I like it to occur between late October and late February. The snow isn't bothering me too much because some how it makes spring and planting season farther away than it is.

Soon our condo will be on the market and we can start looking for places and I can have at least a small yard. Most likely this year won't be able to plant at our place and we might not even be in a place in time to build any beds or a greenhouse. I do have my friend's yard and her parent's have even offered us use of their greenhouse. We can at least design some cold frames/greenhouses with pvc pipes hoops and row cloth at her house. She will probably get chicken for her yard and we will have eggs. I will get to garden.

I just can't wait to have my yard. I always wanted to live in eco village and grow my own food on a large piece of land. I know now you don't need huge amounts of land to grow a lot of your food. With 3 small children and a need for income we can't build the straw bale dream house. I can get a south facing place with a yard and aside from a sand box and a swing set and a dog run start building raised bed garden boxes and cold frames and Mike can probably build a big green house. I can make all kinds of stuff in a bigger kitchen that I don't have to worry about being ready to show. I can build a turkey coop and possibly buy a dog house on craiglist for a pair of goats. I know I have next summer and that I do at least have my friend's house where we can garden.

I don't mind living in a condo and try to live with less. I think condos are good for neighborhood development if they are designed well since they add density. I wish the condo had land where you could garden, a dog run and a place for children to play. Our condo has served our growing family well for 6 years now. We didn't have to worry about shoveling and have a nice storage space and a garage. We are close to a trail that is nice to take walks on. Now that we are moving on I can't wait for the transition period to be done with. I can have my own little mini farm where I can experiment and grow a lot of our food. I can try growing hulless oats, lots of tomatoes, strawberries, corn and quinoa. I know there will be bad years and some failures but in the process there will successes too and we will learn from mistakes. There will be bad weather years like last year without much sun  where we didn't get much but there will be nice sunny summers with bumper crops too.

Snow is falling and it is still winter like outside so it isn't spring and I don't have to worry about having a yard yet. ; ) This summer will be a nice one since we are due for a sunny year. It will be nice to not have to worry about multiple layers and gloves an the extra prep time that goes with that to enjoy the outdoors. Next winter Teddy will be older and hopefully will tolerate layers and a cold face better.