Dream a little dream

It snowed this morning.  Generally here in the South, snow is a novelty, an "oh boy dust off the boots and the winter coats, its time to make snow cream and snow soup (a specialty of my dad's!)" kind of novelty.  But this morning, as I rolled out of bed and stumbled to the window I sighed as I saw the little fluffy flakes...not again!  This winter has been a strange one for us here in NC.  Colder than normal, snow or rain almost every weekend and mud, mud, mud.  Enough already...I am ready for Spring.

This is that time of year where I get really antsy.  I start planning the garden in my head and perusing seed catalogs...thinking of the landscape and longing for crocs and garden gloves.  This year in particular I can't stop thinking about our expanded garden space, our plans for the chickens, and the new addition of bees!  There is so much swimming around in my head and I can't wait to put it to good use when Spring comes around. 

I know "hate" is a strong word, but I almost hate this time of year...the time of year when you have (and want) to start thinking of Spring but you can't do anything about it.  I am a planner, and when I can't put my plans in action they take over.  I read about gardening and yard work, I plan gardening and yard work, and I even dream about it....yes, this time of year, almost every night, my dreams are filled with some sort of Springtime plans. 

For example, Hubby and I, well let me rephrase that...I want to get some bantam chicks this Spring to add to our flock.  About a month ago, I needed to get chicken food for our full grown layers.  The night before I was thinking of the new chicks and had a dream about buying chicken food for the chicks (that we don't have yet).  Well, being that my thoughts are all consumed with my plans, I actually went to the feed store the next day and bought the layer crumble (for chicks) instead of the layer pellets (for our adults).  Not realizing my mistake until I returned home, our layers had to eat crumble for the next month or two.  No harm done, but really?  Can I not stop thinking about Spring long enough to buy the right chicken feed?

I imagine Spring would come and go as normal and our garden would flourish whether or not I started planning, thinking, and dreaming in January or planning, thinking, and doing in late March.  Sometimes I wish I could quiet my mind and not think about the garden or anything Spring until it is time to actually do it (my hubby is good at this)!  But I also think that the planning and dreaming gets me through the cold dreary days of winter and helps me appreciate even more the signs of early Spring.