In which Spring has sprung and it's about dang time: riding and garden stuff

"I was hoping you'd be heading out from here today!" 

called Linda when she met me on the trail

Friday afternoon.

Count was kinda grouchy, but the Dragon was happy to be out in the sunshine!

Linda lives near the trailhead, and she's retired now so she rides a lot more often than I do.

Count needed a breather going up the steepest part 

 But we don't get to ride together nearly as often as I'd like.

It's almost gone.  But not quite.  Gahhh.

Linda has been riding these trails for donkey's years, and she knows lots of stories about the folks around here, which I love.

Linda has all kinds of plans for trails she wants to get "re-cleared" this summer.  I said I'd help.

Sunday was a totally different ride.

Lucia and Jennifer and I have been trying to arrange a trailhead meetup since last September! 

Lucia's horse Annie wants to GO!  She is a lot like Fiddle was in the early years.

They are both pursuing endurance-esque goals this year, and wanted some pointers.  I'm all about helping greenbeans get started, and these two have taken good early steps.  Yay!

Jen's horse BonBon is a lovely zen mare

All together, I think the Dragon and I covered 14 or 15 miles over the weekend.  Not a lot of miles, but they were pleasant, and not freezing cold, and she was grateful to see somebody besides me and her goats!

Back home, it's time to wake up the farm.

The cherry trees have some kind of blight, so out they go to make room for un-blighted trees!

The spinach and peas and potatoes and asparagus are all planted.  Soon I'll put in onions and more potatoes and, in another week, another patch of spinach so that it doesn't all mature on the same day! 

We added some new blueberry plants this year--there's no such thing as too many blueberries. 

The plan is to add naked pumpkins to the usual lineup at home:  butternut squash, sweetmeat squash, tomatoes, corn, turnips and beans.  We'll also try to be patient enough to grow parsnips--those things are so tasty, but they take forever to mature. 

And who knows what else?  Summer is coming, and the garden is waiting!