Spring?

I know, I know.  It's not spring yet.  Even though the snow is pretty much gone for now, and we've had temperatures above freezing for a couple of weeks now, I know that winter will come back to greet us at least one more time.  But there are signs!  Really, there are!  

Sign one:  Over the last two weeks, our chickens have gone from laying a total of between five and seven eggs a week to, all of a sudden, over a dozen eggs in a week!  Yesterday alone we had three eggs in the coop, although one of the eggs was laid on the floor.  Why do they sometimes lay right on the floor?  They've got beautiful nesting boxes filled with fluffy, clean straw, yet this morning I walked in and there was an egg, right in the middle of the floor.  I picked it up and there was a hole pierced right through the shell from someone stepping on the little thing.  Bummer.  Maybe she was so surprised that she was laying an egg she forgot about the nesting boxes?  Maybe the boxes were all in use?  I have no idea why she did it, but I hope she doesn't make it a habit!  Anyway, an increase in egg production is a sure sign that spring is on its way!  Soon we'll have so many eggs coming in I'll have to find ways to use them up:  angel food cake, custards, ice cream, Easter breads, anything to use up a bunch of eggs at once!  If you ever wondered why the egg is a symbol of spring and rebirth, get a flock of chickens and you'll never wonder again. 

Sing two:  The spinach is growing!  In October I planted about twenty little tiny spinach seedlings in my greenhouse.  When fall turned to winter I covered the little plants with a second layer of coldframes, and I waited for the sun to come back.  Last weekend I went out to check on the little plants, and I was so happy to see them growing and growing!  I picked one little leaf from a plant for just a little taste of spring.  So sweet!  And green, and crunchy and oh so wonderful.  Right then and there I ran back to the house, grabbed my seeds and started to plant my early spring crop of kale, winter bibb lettuce, mache, arugula, carrots and parsley.   I also started a flat of onion seeds to be transplanted in the big garden in late April.  I lightly watered all of the seeds, covered them all up and stuck a thermometer into the soil to monitor.  A couple of days later I went back to check, and even though the temperature outside wasn't above 38 degrees, inside the coldframes it was a balmy 85!  I had to crack open the frames to make sure the spinach didn't want to bolt in that heat!  

The smell of that moist, warm soil and the sight of the eggs piling up in my fridge are such welcome treats in February, and promises of the spring that's just waiting for winter to finish up.