It's exciting to see so many trees putting on new leaves. Even though this past winter has been unseasonably mild, a person still gets tired of cold weather. And, for me, it has a lot to do with watching things green up. The redbuds have been really pretty this year, and the dogwood trees are just coming into their own. Linda and I enjoy taking a drive east when the dogwoods are blooming. We usually go over toward Mountain Home. And maybe on down to Calico Rock. We love the White River, as well as the King's River area. I'm thinking it will be time to head that way in another week or so.
We try to time our drive so we can see the dogwood blossoms at their peak. We also always make it a point to eat at Nima's Pizza and More in Gassville. Nima's has won second place in the world championship for traditional pizza, behind Venice, Italy. The walls are covered with awards and articles that have been written about the restaurant. It is also a bakery with some awesome desserts.
On March 18th, we planted a few raised beds with the help of some of our grandchildren. I'm happy to announce that we have a good stand of potatoes, together with spinach, turnips, carrots, collards, onions and mustard greens. Plus, our elephant garlic, which we planted in September, is now knee high and looking good. The asparagus is beginning to send up shoots. So far, I have managed to eat them all right there in the garden. The other day, I gave a young asparagus shoot to my grandson Landon. He ate it with relish. These shoots are super sweet and the taste reminds me of fresh sugar snap peas.
I am raring to plant tomatoes, string beans and peppers, but I will have to wait until the third week or so of April. That is also when I like to plant sweet corn, although we don't always grow sweet corn. This year it looks like my son Eric and his wife Jessica will have a sweet corn patch up near their cabinet shop. Eric carried a few loads of compost from our place up there in preparation for planting the sweet corn later. There is an old garden bed up there that has been productive over the years. Plus, it has a water faucet right next to the garden.
The sheep and goats are happy with all the new grass. During the winter months, any time I came down the driveway in my truck, all the animals would come running down the hill in the hopes that I would feed them. Most of the time, at the end of the day, I would throw some hay over the fence, but their clear preference was for the grain which I gave as an occasional treat.
Now that Sweetpea has twins, we try to give her grain every day. Her lambs have grown so much that they now compete with her for the grain. It is interesting to see all three of them trying to get their heads into the bucket at the same time. They are still at the neighbor's farm staying with their miniature sheep. I'm hoping that we can bring them home soon so all the livestock can be in one pasture. I want to be sure that the lambs are strong enough to fend for themselves against the ram. The little male twin has tiny horns beginning to poke out of his head. The females are naturally polled, although there are little buds where the horns would normally be growing.
With the milder weather, Linda and I have been walking more. We can always walk at home since we live in a rural setting, but sometimes we enjoy walking some of the trails in Rogers or Bentonville, or even at the Promenade Mall. I think Northwest Arkansas has some of the best walking trails to be found anywhere. The Greenway that runs from Fayetteville up to Bentonville and beyond has all sorts of attractive little parks and rest areas along the way. You can see families out, with children playing and pets running to and fro. It is not difficult to understand why this area is ranked as one of the most desirable places to live anywhere in the U.S.
We certainly feel blessed to live in such a beautiful area of the country.
Sam Byrnes is a Gentry-area resident and weekly contributor to the Eagle Observer. He may be contacted by email at [email protected]. Opinions expressed are those of the author.
General News on 04/05/2017