There is so much happening on our little “farm” during this time of year.  Our vines are popping out new buds, and spring has sprung.  It’s exciting to see the vines jump back into life again.

The orange pops of color you see in the blurry background of the photo?  Those are California poppies – the state flower, and we are big fans. The brilliant delicate petals open up in the morning, and close at night, or sometimes just because it is a foggy day.

I grew up believing the common story that it is illegal to cut poppies because they are the state flower.  Even though I have since learned that isn’t true, we still don’t cut them down.  Today we weed-whacked our property along the road, and as you can see, we trim all the weeds, and leave the poppies standing.

This approach to weed-whacking sort of makes the poppies stand out even more.

Our wisteria is in full bloom.  Tonight, there were tons of bumble bees feasting on the wisteria pollen.  There were so many of them that you could hear a constant, dull hum, and a few bees even bumped into me in their drunken rush to get to more pollen.  I wanted to get photos, but it was more difficult than I expected.  I took lots of photos like this one – blooms, no bees.  (I wish you could smell the perfume of these blossoms!)

Finally – I captured one!  Can you see him?

Happy bee.

Next stop – the chicken coop.  I wanted to take a picture of the new mommy, “Little Sister,” the hen on your right.  She hatched four babies a little over a week ago.  They are SO adorable peeking out from underneath their Mom.  It’s really amazing how much heat the hens throw off – the babies are incredibly warm.

I took the shot, and looked at my camera’s view finder to review it, and noticed a little head peeking out from under “Daphne,” the hen on your left.  I was so excited to see her newly hatched chicks.  After investigation, I realized that the lone chick under Daphne was actually one of Little Sister’s, and Daphne’s still have yet to hatch.  I put the little stray back under Little Sister, and said goodnight to everybody.