For those of you who know me, you realize my real calling in life is to be a farmer. Today Brad let me play farmer and drive his big red tractor over the fields, turning the soil. What a thrill for me.

After a few lessons, Brad left me on my own.

My job was to pull this thing over designated fields. I made two passes.

It was fun to see my progress and feel like I was part of something much bigger.

I also had a great view of the farm. “Here’s to you dad. Happy Birthday!”

Heirloom seeds from Seed Savers Exchange—need I say more?

I forgot I had these photos and thought I would share. Before winter was over, Aaron spent a weekend with us and we took him on a hike around the farm.

We modified one of our farm sleds into a nice comfortable ride.

At first he was all smiles and really enjoyed his new means of transportation.

But within minutes, he was fast asleep.

Duke is now 6-0 for his fights with raccoons.

It is amazing he can carry one as far as he does. They are heavy animals.

Taking a break is allowed.

But leaving it behind, not a chance. Duke will take this animal home and bury it. Duke does not come away from these fights without injury. This last one has left him with a scraped and swollen nose and a hurt foot. Although he enjoys this sport and kills them on the spot, it is the lingering diseases they carry that we worry about. We’re trying to end this sport for fear that it will do more damage than what we can see.

March is a month where we go from winter to spring and back again. The first week winter continued, but then we were blessed with temperatures above normal. Amazing what a little sunshine can do to warm up our little world.

This past week has been beautiful. We pulled out the chairs and table from storage and have spent most of our evenings outside. It feels wonderful to be able to hang out with the chickens and ducks again. I really missed that.

We named this particular chicken Millie. When looking at her, we can’t really tell her apart from the other Dominique chickens we have, but we can tell her apart by her personality. She really likes to find out what we’re doing, or more importantly, what we’re eating.

By far, she is the friendliest of the flock.

As Chuck says, “Daylight savings in the spring is like Christmas and Easter and Birthdays and Fourth of July all wrapped up in one.” Cheers to a beautiful Wisconsin Daylight Savings time—upper 50s and sunny. It was a glorious holiday.