We’re in the midst of a really beautiful spring in the mountains! The lupine is blooming beautifully right now, and we’ve been fortunate to enjoy a spectacular wildflower show over the last couple of months. We dug out from the low snowpack early this year, though it has been a pretty chilly and windy spring. I’m very curious what summer has in store for us.
Spring is always a busy season for us. We have projects galore around our property – cleaning up after our typically harsh and long winters takes weeks. And the weeding! It’s endless. I like to do a big spring clean on the inside of the house, which also takes several weeks to get through.
This spring we’re doing a small landscaping project, which we’re in the middle of right now. We’re building a fire pit and seating area and adding irrigation and ultimately grass to a section in between our house and garage. I’m very excited to see what it looks like when it’s complete.
Our garden is always a source of joy for me, and this spring is no different. Not a whole lot is happening there yet. It’s still too cold to put my warm weather crops in the ground, so I’m waiting one more week and then they’re going in!
I spent a few hours weeding and spreading new compost, then recently planted my cold weather crops. This year I’m trying a few new things {dahlias, more herbs, more companion planting, new trellising} and focusing on what we love to eat {strawberries! tomatoes! green beans!} and grow {pumpkins!}. My friend Hannah is an avid gardener and she invited me to come “shopping” in her greenhouse – she sent me home with more dahlia tubers, all sorts of herbs, tomatoes and a few things I’ve never grown before – eggplant, broccoli and peppers.
In our community we have an incredible benefit of irrigation water that comes in separately from our well. Throughout our region there are multiple irrigation ditches that connect to people’s properties. These come directly from mountain snow runoff. This helps enable people to keep their properties properly watered, which in turn reduces wildfire risk. It felt like it took forever for the irrigation water to get turned on, but alas, it’s on now!
Ben’s soccer season has already come and gone. This one felt particularly manageable and special. His coach was so wonderful, and Ben became good friends with another player, who is the son of his coach. It’s always fun to watch my kids do something they love.
Hannah just wrapped up her second year of ballet with her spring recital. She absolutely loves ballet and it has been a joy to watch her flourish doing something she loves. Her recital, of course, was adorable.
Before the snow melted Alex and I began to transition from skiing to running. We both have gotten quite into trail running over the last few years. Though it doesn’t happen often, the best is when we can go for a big run together. Neither of us is training for anything in particular this summer, though we have a few moderate distance runs we’d like to get out on this summer or fall.
Now that it’s Memorial Day weekend I’m hoping it’ll warm up a little bit and stay consistently warmer. We’ve had a few warmer days, but overall it’s been a cooler spring. We have two kiddo birthdays, a preschool graduation, the swim team season and the start of summer on the horizon! So much to look forward to. Happy spring!
