Springtime in Ukraine...maybe

My crocus and tulips are just poking through, about and inch high now, but it seems spring has sprung here in Ukraine. It may have been -6C when Garry got up Sunday morning, but it was plus 4 by the time we drove to church at 9 am. The sunn is coming up earlier, the grass is greening up on the side of the roads, and there is smoke everywhere... what, you may think...smoke is a sign of spring?

Here in Ukraine it is, last week Tuesday I was returning from teaching English at the school, when I had to hold my breath and try to duck the clouds of smoke coming from the the two bonfires on the side of the street being stirred (with her rake) by the older lady who had raked up her yard. A well-tended yard in the village is not the mowed grass lawn of North America, but a perfectly clean flat layer of dirt, almost like it had been swept... well it really may have been swept with a broom made of twigs. I have seen ladies sweeping up in parks, making their brooms before sweeping, tying a bunch of twigs onto a stick (often a much shorter stick than you or I would use- Ukrainians believe you need to see what you are doing when sweeping to do a good job, I think.)

A well maintained yard

Strangely enough, since I started this blogpost, we have been having bursts of snow flurries today! Right around noon I looked outside and giant snowflakes were swirling everywhere, it looked like a real snowstorm for a few minutes. Garry is busy with the students. even though it is Monday, because this has been designated exam week... or exam three days, since it will be finished on Wednesday (normally we work at the school on Tuesdays and Thursdays) I have nothing this week as English is not an official subject. Thursday and Friday have been designated days to rest from the exams. We are not sure why, as the students not only received the questions some time ago, they got the official answers also. It is interesting doing things the Ukrainian way.

Maxim is out cultivating one of the fields, we will have more than 100 acres over the land we farmed last year. A few people were able to get out of their leases with the big farmer and have decided to let us rent their land. This may have to do with the fact that he never paid up as promised in December for last year's rent, some are renting to him again, even though they can get out, in the hope of him paying last year's rent in the fall, as promised with this years. One older lady was going to wait for him to pay instead of renting to us, but when she said she was going to wait Maxim told her what the guy said when he asked him about her land, "that she was a crazy old babushka, and her land was not free til next year." She marched up the street and told him she'd take her share back now.

Garry bought a fertilizer spreader

The winter wheat, right after spreading- see the tracks?

Last week Garry was ready to try out his new fertilizer spreader he purchased when we drove to Zaporosia on Wednesday we saw several places where the winter wheat was being fertilized. On Thursday he and Maxim picked up the corn seed and the spreader, and Friday morning the wheat was fertilized. Garry found out someone has planted alfalfa already and he is thinking of planting some, with all this new land to use this year.