This past winter we had such little precipitation that I was worried that the ground would be too dry for spring planting. After this weekend, I don't have to worry about too little moisture. It rained so much that the ditches and fields are full of standing water.

It was a cold, windy and rainy weekend. I went to a party on Saturday night.

It was a nice party with friendly people, good food and plenty of refreshments, only it was so cold and damp. The party was held in a garage and there was a fire for guests to stand around in the backyard. The guests would turn their backs to the fire to get warm and when their backs became warm, they turned their fronts to the fire. I stayed in the garage to keep dry. I was glad to go home early and lie in my warm bed and listen to the pouring rain and howling wind outdoors.

Sunday, my mother, two sisters, a brother, cousins and my children came over for dinner. We had hoped to have a picnic. But with this cold, wet spring, we fired up our wood stove in the kitchen to keep everyone warm and toasty. Tom hauled the barbecue grill into the barn and grilled chicken and steak. It was pretty crowded in the house as half of our kitchen is torn off. We are still in the midst of remodeling. What would normally be the dining room is filled with boxes in every corner. I advised everyone not to lie anything down in that room, as it quickly becomes swallowed up with all the junk. Everyone was tolerant of the junk and the food was delicious. The new grandbaby, Tommy, was passed back and forth between aunts, uncles, and cousins and lots of photos were taken.

One good thing about the wet weather and cool spring is that it is good for transplanting. I have been separating herbs in the garden. Tom has been planting trees and bushes we got through the extension office. When I was growing up, my dad planted cedar pine trees all over the front yard and to the north of the house. He dug the trees out of the ditches and a neighbor's pasture. They were the scruffiest, scratchiest trees. My dad planted more than 600 of these trees. They were free for the taking and he planted them close together to form windbreaks. My brothers and sisters and I spent hours hauling heavy hoses and buckets to water these ugly trees. I asked dad why he wouldn't plant apple or plum trees. I figured if we were going to be spending so much time planting and watering trees that it would be nice to grow trees that we could eat fruit from. Dad said that fruit trees were a lot of work and they would get rust from the cedar pines.

"So why not grow fruit trees instead of the cedar pines? I asked.

"Cedar pines are free, fruit trees aren't," Dad answered.

Coming from dad, this made sense because he was always dragging home anything that was free. He fed the cats roadkill that he picked up each day driving around the county. The garage was built out of creosote-treated wood that was recycled from a highway shed. The barn was built from an old wooden silo that dad and my oldest brother spent hours pulling nails out of the lumber. An old iron oil tank from a semi was turned upright and cemented into the ground where dad stored grain for the animals. Nothing was new on our farm. Everything was made of recycled junk. So it made sense that we could not plant trees that cost money.

But I am not like my dad and I like to eat from the trees I grow. I have apple, pear and plum trees. I am starting a vineyard and I am looking forward to fresh grapes. I don't mind spending money on a plant that I can eat from for several years down the road.

Sheila Donnelly can be reached at 434-2233 or by e-mail at :mailto:newsroom@austindailyherald.com