HFM

Just got in from a long walk. Zoey jumped up on the couch & nested in the blankets. The wind had made her a little nervous, so I put a blanket on top of her to help her relax. Here she is, about a minute later:

Today is the one year anniversary of Zoey's coming to live with us! Mama & Papa O'Brien sent some fun gifts to help us celebrate. Here is Zoey playing with a particularly satisfying panda on Friday night: After a late night of fun with Amanda on Saturday, & an afternoon in the sun with Susie in the backyard on Sunday, she finished the weekend with a long & very serious nap: She seems happy to be living here, & we're certainly happy to have her here on Mars!

This weekend on Mars Farm, we got our first taste of what's been growing -- it was time to thin the arugula, lettuce, beets, & collards, and there were so many sprouts by the end of it, that we both got to eat a big bowl of fresh Mars salad for lunch on Saturday. Tonight, I think we'll be having more salad with dinner -- the big head of lettuce on the front porch (the winter planting's lone survivor of the January cold snap) is calling my name, & the mustard greens in the front window are getting out of control again. Here's how it looked on the front porch on Saturday morning, before I got started: Here's how it looked in the back yard: Zoey's contribution lately has been stepping on plants as she tries to eat the grass behind the beds. Very unhelpful. Then, overnight on Saturday, Mars Farm came under attack from unknown Critter or Critters, digging around in the dirt: trampled collards a near miss for the favas almost all of the second planting of spin...

A wily paparazza snuck into the back yard while I was putting up my pea trellis!

The big news this week on Mars Farm is that everything is now sprouting & growing happily. Today, I put in a few more carrot, spinach, beet, & arugula seeds, to extend the harvest by a few weeks, & put up a net for the rapidly growing peas to grab on to: Now more waiting!