Dies Irae

I regret to inform you that on Invocabit Sunday of 2012, a hawk descended into the back yard and killed our little friend, the juvenile Dominique hen, whom Evangeline called "baby." We returned from lunch to find the hawk eating our chicken. She was already cold, so I think she probably died around 2:00 pm. She was buried promptly behind the shed near a sunny spot where we will be planting a bean tipi this spring. We actually miss her. She was the smart one of the bunch, the first one to figure out that if you snatched the food and ran away, you were more likely to get to eat the whole berry or grape. Its sad, and now I am back to obsessively checking craigslist for chickens. I don't think we can have anything less than fully grown hens. I've got my eye on blue laced red wyandottes now. Well... we miss our little hen.

But turn that frown upside down, because it is Lent, after all. Spring is nearly upon us. What was dead comes alive this time of year. The beets, carrots, lettuce, spinach, kale, peas and onions are all hard at work emerging from their deadness and breaking forth from the soil in their glorified plant bodies. The peach trees also seem to be emerging from their dormancy, which will be exciting to see. I am pretty sure that I scorched one of them this past summer, but it looks like its going to pull through.

Is this not the cutest pea seedling you've ever seen?