Spring! Bees! Rhubarb!

Spring finally is here. I've gotten peas, lettuces, radishes, brussel sprouts, kale, green onions, spinach, pak choi and beans planted. The beans were starts that really needed to go in the ground, but I'm afraid they got a bit shocked by a hard frost last night. Everything else is doing great though. The lawn has been mowed twice now already, its growing super fast.
Mason Bees are loving the nesting block we put up for them. They found it and started nesting almost immdeiately after I hung it up. We've actually had the block for a couple of years but never managed to find a spot to hang it up. The sunny side of the woodshed seems to really be a hit. Mason bees are a shiny black stingless native NW bee that are the best polinators around. They lay their eggs in crevices with a supply of pollen and then wall them in with mud. The larvae will hatch next spring and do it all again. It's really fun to watch them working, flying in and out of the nesting holes - busy as bees, one might say. The nesting block has paper tube liners so we can pull them out next spring and put in fresh ones for the bees to use. We can also move the whole block to a sheltered spot to keep the bees safe through the winter.
A couple weeks ago Dave brought over several rhubarb starts and planted them in various spots around the yard. They are doing great - we're going to have a lot of rhubarb this summer and in years to come, which is terrific: my rhubarb-chardonnay and rhubarb-ginger jams both got rave reviews last year. :)