Our First Leap Day in Virginia

Tuesday was a great day of lower pasture effort. Phil sawed a log, then we went and chipped a swath of clearing in the afternoon. One big cedar blocked access, and those fanning, evergreen branches felt never ending! But in the end, the cedar was chipped, surrounding debris was chipped, and Phil spent the last hour before dark pushing new sections of trees near the mill, ready to saw them up.

Basically, he got all the tractor work done that he could.

And then today struck. Seven-tenths of an inch before noon, with a cessation afterwards, only to start again at dusk.

Sheets of water running down the driveway, orange clay running downhill; erosion, loss of "topsoil": we've seen this before.

I spent a bit of time in the greenhouse. Yesterday was a flat of onions seeded. Today I did two types of beets, green onions and turnips. And then, because I have not had good success with carrots or one type of radish, I seeded those in flats, too. Supposedly they don't grow well when roots are disturbed by transplanting. However, since I've never had a carrot grow, no matter how sown, I'm willing to try something new.

And without outdoor time, I made a lamb stew for dinner and a couple of guineas, thrown in for good measure.

There are times I wish I had simply to open a package of ground beef.

This lamb was extremely gamey flavored. I can hardly taste it, and the boys were not enthusiastic either.

The guinea had superb flavor. Abraham even called it, "That amazingly good chicken." But the connective tissues were ridiculously tough, which meant breaking it into pieces was a definite strain. I can see why guineas haven't taken off as a food of choice for the American public.

Happy Leap Day!