Is it Winter? Is it Spring?

Good Morning! Another beautiful day! A little chillier than yesterday but it certainly feels like Spring is in the air! So will it stay...they say no...they say we have probably turned the corner on Winter but...well, it feels like Spring today so I am going with that! And when the sun is out, the chickens feel like the one in the above photo! They were loving the sunshine yesterday. Giving themselves dirt baths and just languishing in every ray they could find! They are very entertaining.  I did my deep clean of the coop on Sunday. That's when I take every blade of straw out, wash the interior walls, sweep it out completely and add completely new straw. Even though every day I do  poop pick up, its still nice to get in there and put all the new good smelling straw and hay in! I do this in the Spring and Fall. My chickens are healthy, happy and free of pests. And the girls are starting to lay their eggs again so that' s awesome. 

I had to get this mug after i had bought a yellow one that says "Peep Peep"; how cute is this? 

I have a giant pine tree on my property that drops a ton of pine cones. Look at this cute craft to use them! I will definitely be picking them up from my lawn and using them! I love when I can use things I find on my property.

If you've gone to Lancaster County along Rte 340 in Intercourse, then you know this sign! Its my favorite! This time of year more and more stands are opening up! So exciting. I love Winter for the beauty and the coziness of it but I love the Spring and Summer for the farm stands and markets!

My husband is buying a smoker and we are designating an area in our yard for the bbq and smoker and a small backyard kitchen. We've been planning it for a while. Just a simple area. We are so excited for it and I've been looking up alot of info about smoking. I never knew you could even smoke desserts! We pretty much settled on the Pit Boss upright smoker because we don't need the combo with the bbq. Who knew you could do so much with it? I just thought it was meat and jerky! 

Well that's about it for me today! Time to get some laundry done and feed the chickens. Then I'm going to start my Sunday sauce..which I didn't get to do Sunday. I made braciole for it and I want to get that going for dinner tonight. If you don't know what braciole is it's a thin cut steak (very thin) like flank steak pounded very thin and rolled up with a delicious filling. I do bread crumbs, lots of garlic and locatelli cheese! Then you close it up with either a toothpick or string and brown it in olive oil and more garlic, which is the base for your sauce! After it's nice and browned, start making your tomato sauce! and the meat will cook nicely in the sauce over some time.. Not too long as the meat is thin so it cooks fast.  I've been cooking early and I enjoy the longer evening! 

Have a great day!