spring?

British summer time is here in two weeks. Does that mean its spring now? We have had the "worm moon" which is supposed to herald spring. The "worm moon" is the name given to the the full moon in March, its when the worms are supposed to become active again and worm casts begin to appear on the lawn. I have gained some huge worm casts on my lawn...although they could be mole hills. The mole hills are very handy, I've barrowed them off and used them on my raised beds in the polytunnel.

But that is an aside. Is it spring? Well, the dawn chorus is pretty noisy so the birds think it is. I also saw a bat two days ago. There are a lot of insects around so hopefully the bat can stock up on food so that it can hibernate again if it gets cold again. No frogspawn in the pond, so they don't agree. Perhaps the frogs know something we don't.

It will get cold again. It always does. The snows of February have been forgotten, but the snow always makes one last return. Last year it was in April. We'll soon see.



Did you know that all the full moons have their own names? Not that everyone seems to agree. Our friend wikipedia has the best list. I'm now off to remind the chickens that April has the egg moon and they should stop chasing the horses and lay some eggs.



Beggshillbothy.

snow

Well, just like the rest of the country, the Beggshill Bothy was buried under snow in February. This picture was taken during the blizzard that had been raging all night. That snow plastered building on the left is the bothy. The snow had drifted half way up the window.

In the end we were snowed in for 9 days. Luckily there was no one in the bothy at the time. We have had guests who were snowed in and you just have to put up with it. All you can do is borrow our sledge or build an igloo or just watch the blizzard from the warmth of the bothy.
This years snow was the worst we've had in the five years we've lived here. After the blizzard I had to dig paths through the snow from the house up to the barn, round to the chickens and on to the horses. The chickens didn't like the snow. They wouldn't come out and after a day of enforced inactivity I was getting concerned. As you know, my chickens are very free range and being stuck inside can't be good for them. The solution was to dig a path through the snow to the polytunnel. Then they could have a scratch in the soil and enjoy a couple of dust baths. They did eat all my over wintering cabbages, but that's a minor thing compared to chicken welfare.

Now the snow is gone, like it had never been. The weather is warm (for this time of year) and I'm itching to get out in to the polytunnel and sow a few early seeds. I'll have to hold off another month or so. Last year the snows came in April and we had -4°C frosts in May.

Soon, soon, spring will be here and its time to start growing again. And mowing.

Beggshill Bothy.