The Great Outdoors

It felt so good to get outside and feel the warmth of the sun on my face today. 

Finally. 
A day when I didn't have a mile long list of errands to run or projects to complete. 

Finally. 
A day when it wasn't cold or cloudy or rainy or windy. 

Finally. 
A day when no one had the sniffles rendering us unable to move from the couch.

Upon my completion of cleaning three bathrooms, finishing a second load of laundry, running the dishwasher and catching up on email...Owen and I headed outside to work on a project that has been put off much too long.

We got our starter pots out and lined them up.  Then Owen, very carefully, filled each pot with some potting soil.

I like to save those large yogurt containers throughout the year for ocassions such as these.  They come in handy for everything from freezing chicken stock to starting your sunflower seeds!  Don't you just love recycling?!

Owen did a great job filling each container with just the right amount of soil.  I actually made a bigger mess than he did!  Good job Owen!

Just a few seeds in each pot, cover them up and give them a nice drink of water. 
And now the hardest part...waiting.

I have found that my sunflowers do their best when I start them out this way rather than just planting the seeds in the ground.  I saved some zinnia seeds from last year's marvelous crop and we started some of those too.  And our cosmos, we planted directly in the ground.  If, by chance, we suffer a late frost after they've come up, I'll be okay.  I have so many of those seeds that were harvested last summer that I have nothing to worry about.  It's so satisfying to be outside, listening to the birds and the neighbor's lawn mowers while working the earth.  I just hope and pray that our area farmers can get in the fields and do some planting of their own very soon.