When the peppers started sprouting six days ago, I found myself suddenly needing plant labels for the seeds. I scoured the house and found two empty tofu containers in the recycle box. Perfect for labels!

The Breslin Yellow Hot Pepper is still the precocious leader of our spring sprouts. They’re on the right, leaning toward the sun. I rotated the box to give them some exercise. The basil is a close second with  most of the seeds sprouted after just eight days. I shouldn’t have planted them so close together, but I was thinking only a few of the seeds would sprout. It’s still hard for me to believe that seeds will actually GROW. Next time I’ll make sure there’s more room between each seed, but for now I’ll just snip out the smaller seedlings and leave the biggest one in each receptacle. The parsley isn’t doing anything yet, and neither are the other herbs. So far, I’ve planted parsley, sage, cilantro, lemon balm, catnip, lots of peppers, lots of tomatoes, and since I couldn’t keep my hands out of the dirt, some flowers: purple coneflower and Black-eyed Susan.

We’re seeing other signs of spring throughout the house. When I visited our daughter, Zazil, in Tucson two years ago, I brought home this little cactus for Elliot. It hasn’t done much until now, but it seems to be flowering and, perhaps, making a new branch.

This geranium has been my constant companion for two years, ever since I moved from Chicago to be closer to the farm. It loves the southern sun and has sprung into action. We’ll have flowers in days.