First seeds...

 One impatient child got her first pkg of seeds into the ground yesterday :) She's been anxiously awaiting getting to do that. It was super sunny yesterday and she helped clean out the garden beds. Finally she goes "We have to get seeds out. We have to". So Steve and I gave in and let her put out one package of early yield lettuce seeds. They usually can go in the ground by the end of February and can withstand the frost and a snow etc so hoping they make it. We planted them close to make loose leaf instead of head lettuce.
  It's always fun to watch her excitement over the garden. If she could only plant in a single row it would be nice but I look at it this way...maybe that's the way to look at life. You won't always get to go in a straight line, you won't always get to go the way you should...but you still yield something at the end. :) She did pretty well. We did one row exactly right then let her have the rest of the seeds to plant in her own section (a little hodge podgy on where she put them as well she may have decided they needed too much water but time will tell). We also gave her one packet of long stem carrots that was left over from last year. They can usually withstand cold pretty well and I am hoping we are not slated for another heavy frost/snow storm.
   She was very careful on pulling out weeds, filling up her little yellow bucket then announcing "these go in the compost!". She also had fun finding what few brave nightcrawlers that had worked up to the sun yesterday. She expected to find a ton of them like she does in the summer but they are still pretty far down in the ground...soo by that you can figure the ground is going to be staying cold awhile longer. We use a lot of nature signs and the Farmer's Almanac around here when planting etc. Lots of people laugh but it works.
  If you plant certain crops in the wrong sign...they will never produce. If you fill a hole with cement in the wrong signs it won't set right. If you cut pigs in the wrong sign they will bleed more than normal. If you put gravel on a drive in the wrong sign it will settle into the ground faster than normal. There is literally a sign for almost everything. Signs tell you when to cut your hair to grow faster or to pare off growth, when to wean (and yes we used that with Kaya...and had no problems at all breaking her), you name it.
   Signs in nature play a big role in gardening etc. If you see the squirrels in the heat of summer in August piling up the acorns and corn you are in for a harder winter temp wise. It was right on cue this year (lots of snow, ice and cold!). If the deer don't change alot in color the winter will be more mild. If nests of squirrels are built thick (or birds) then it will be a cold winter. If hornets build their nest high it will be lots of snow. If cows gather up near a fence line in a bunch..a storm is coming. If your smoke from your stove or campfire rises straight up the air pressure is steady. A red sky at dusk means the next day will be a good day, red in the morning means rain sometime soon (red sky in morning sailors take warning, red sky at night sailors delight). Heavy frost means no rain that day. If you can hear bugs and birds during a storm..the rain has set it to stay for awhile. If they are out eating in the rain same thing. On a cold day or windy day if you lick your finger and stick it in the air you can feel what direction the wind is coming from..and that makes a big difference on the temp of a storm etc. A heavy snow winter makes for a better crop season. A dry drought summer will often be followed by a heavy winter. (When it's not nature gets hectic! As do humans!) Restless animals are a good predictor of bad weather coming.
  We also use alot of hand me down (wives tales I suppose lol) when it comes to gardening. Certain crops go in when it's still cold because root/starch improves with coldness and will be sweeter tasting. Cedar mulch keeps away snakes. Plant in certain signs (cabbage will not make kraut if it's canned in the wrong sign..it turns black. Garlic and other ones go in certain signs or they wont' grow. Potatoes have to go eye down to grow) Some are not true (thanking someone for a plant hinders it's growth) while others are odd but true (don't touch tomato plants during that time of the month or you'll kill the plant).
  We don't follow everyone and some are impossible to follow (as another contradicts it) but it's fun to share some that do work with Kaya. Passing along info that has been passed down from generation to generation is always a good idea. You never know when the weather ones may just save a life or allow you time to prepare!!