Can you feel a change coming?

Spring is the time of plans and projects. – Leo Tolstoy

Before all the snow is gone, before the grass turns green. Before the birds return and build nests. We know spring is coming. Our chickens respond to the rapidly increasing daylight that occurs around the spring equinox and they start laying lots of eggs.

Our hens spend their winter in a hoophouse, we call it the HoopCoop, and they rest. A break from laying eggs allows them to replace feathers and gain weight before staring the serious work of egg-laying again in the spring.

Even with feet of snow on the ground some winters, we know that spring is coming when our egg basket starts filling up.

I can’t count on the weather predictions or a groundhog in Pennsylvania, but I can count on my chickens.

As farmers, we also use the winter months to rest and rejuvenate. I have napped and read books, I have knitted and baked. I planned my garden and ordered my seeds and my chicks. Like my hens, I have done the necessary preparation for my spring’s work. There are new gardens to plant, fruit trees to prune and more to plant, there are fences to build, and barns to clean. If I have not rested and planned, my spring is chaos. I find myself whirling around the farm, very busy but accomplishing very little. So I take a cue from my chickens: I have rested, now it’s time to get busy.