This picture is actually last spring, I don't really have daffodils up yet! I look each day to see how high the green tips are peeking up, tho. The anticipation of spring helps me get thru these months of winter. Here in the Oregon valley I live in, the days are sunny and in the 50's this week. We will soon return to cold foggy days, but in the meanwhile, the chickens are happily clucking thru the fields and garden beds. My goal is to get the girls fenced in before my perennials start coming up again, tho. I need less scratching around the flower beds and  less dirt bathes in the hosta beds! I am dreaming of a new flower bed or two, and have the High Country Gardens catalog beside my chair, making lists as I go. A plant catalog and a nice cup of tea is all I need!

Finally the end of June has brought days in the 70's and even 80 degrees! We had to wait until the official start of summer, June 21 to get any sun and warm weather.
So my flower baskets are a tad behind, since I didn't plant them until April and then we didn't get any sun until this week!
The good news is our little chickens aren't so little and have graduated to free range instead of just the chicken yard. There are ongoing dramas of whether the big girls are eating the little girls food or vice versa. And even tho there are 2 roosts in the little girls hen house, we find 11 chickens on one and 1 lonely chicken on the other! Too funny.
We finally have the garden planted, lettuce, beans, tomatoes, squash. The established strawberries and raspberries are doing well. We may get a few cherries from the new cherry tree, and ou new little peach and apple trees are doing well, if the deer don't notice them!
David has now 3 bee hives, after losing both last winter. Two he bought from Glory Bee, our local bee supply store, and one is a swarm he captured. We learned from last winter and are determined to watch them more closely this year to protect them. We love the honey!
Happy Fourth of July!