The Beauty of Spring, and Idealist Dreams

It's a little funny that in the past month, we have gone from Winter to Spring, in a big way. I've got peas and radishes going nuts in the raised bed, and my snapdragons are about to go back into crazy blooms. Spring fever is in full-swing, and it's really hard not to go out and turn the whole yard into a garden every time the sun is shining.
I have my hot weather seedlings chugging along nicely under a grow light in the dining room. I have an interesting array of heirloom tomatoes, as well as a purple tomatillo, ground cherry and miniature pepper plants. It's fun to think of them looking like their seed catalogue cousins in just a few months!
As there isn't too much more I can do outside at the moment, I've found a lot of interesting hobbies for indoor time. Every winter I manage to re-learn knitting, with it getting easier each year. This year I am determined to continue it even after the warmer weather comes, though I usually just go running outside instead. I'm almost done with a classy wool scarf for hubby, and I'm working on my first sock. We'll see if I get as far as making its friend, but here's to hoping!
I also sewed a simple skirt last weekend. I haven't made one since high school, and that one looks okay from a distance - if anyone who has half an idea about sewing looks at it closely, however, it's pretty scary. Patience is something I'm working on, and did not have much of in high school. My recently completed skirt does have lovely french seams and an elastic waistband to make its bold 70's pattern quite flattering.
I've been glued to a lot of books recently - thanks to the library and Amazon!

• Sewing in a Straight Line - has the skirt pattern I used. Listed as a 1 hour project, which took me about 5, but whatever, it's done!
• A Very Small Farm - needed a small book to read on the bus/Metro last week, and this just happened to be the right size. It's one of those books that just makes your heart feel good (or at least mine).
• Make the Bread, Buy the Butter - was on the waitlist at the library for months for this one, but it was definitely worth the read. Hubby actually told me to read this one (mostly because I make butter sometimes and he thought it would convince me to not make it!).

Another source of ideas/projects/inspiration has been the blog Cold Antler Farm. I got her book from the library a few months back and have been following her blog ever since. The little farm that she now has is a big inspiration, and her new book, Barnheart, looks interesting as well. I'm inclined to wait until I can get it from the library, but I do look forward to reading it. What she describes as "Barnheart" is really how I feel right now.

Symptoms of Acute Barnheart: Endless hours spent baking bread, studying chicken coop plans, gathering eggs, browsing seed catalogs, weeding the vegetable garden, attending sheepdog trials, dreaming about heritage-breed livestock, and longing incessantly for a farm of one's own.

While I don't have chickens (yet), and I don't have a sheepdog or heritage animals (yet), this is pretty much my dream and goal for the (near?) future. Hubby, who is from rural Minnesota, is decently frightened when I really get talking about it, but neither of us want to continue to live, or eventually raise a family, locked in the suburbs. I like to think my crazy hobbies are just research and preparedness for the future!

For now, I'll let the cats out to mow the grass, and keep dreaming. :)