Syrup thoughts

I have 3 or 4 posts that are sitting half-written in my blogger dashboard. :-) Too many thoughts all trying to escape at once. Hopefully this weekend will yield some time where I can sit down and hammer a couple of those into completion. Hopefully they're worth the wait. :-D

To keep my readers amused, here's a fluffy post full of spring thoughts and kids and cake.
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Rowen turned two last week. TWO. Man is that weird. I'm sure my mother is laughing at me, but it's weird. Here's the mandatory toddler + cake picture.We went down to Des Moines, blessed by friends that were willing to open their house to us and my parents and a whole gaggle of friends. Thanks Brian and Mel! (Pictures are in the mail for y'all.) New friendships were made. The picture below is my niece, (my brother's daughter) and my best friend Becky's son, those two were inseparable.
And a group shot of all the kiddos. I remember holding all of them as babies, and they're all growing up so fast. These shots were from the Botanical Center. They all had a blast running around in the sunshine and warmth, looking at the plants and fishes and turtles.

I have happy news on the garden front! The garlic chives that I was worrying about have put up strong spring shoots. Yay!!! I'm glad I gave them another couple of weeks. The rhubarb had leaves out of their protective covers this morning. Looking all squished and brainy, I love rhubarb, even when it's a baby plant.
Garlic bulbs are coming up in full force. I've got 3 of the 4 rows showing strong shoots, I'm anxiously awaiting signs from the lagging bulbs. There's rain and warmth forecasted for the next few days, hopefully that will spur some on.
Potatoes are all planted, snugly in their hills. We're trying a new variety this year, Kenebec. And an old favorite, Yukon Gold. Hopefully I'll have the time to try again with the True Potato Seed experiment.

Spring in our new place. I'm struck by the urge to tap our Crimson Maple tree for syrup. I read this month that Sugar Maples aren't the only tree you can make syrup from. People make syrup from all kinds of maple trees as well as Birch trees. So, my goal for this year is to confidently identify all the trees in our yard and research their saps. We eat a lot of maple syrup, and it would be awesome to get some from our own trees.

I hope spring is blooming where you are. :-)