Spring on Dog Hill

We're finally in our new house and so I'm starting a new blog to show everything I'm up to not food related. (For the food related items, go to Dog Hill Kitchen) A full introduction and photos of the house are in the works but here are some photos of what I've been up to since the move up.

Ramps, wild leeks, grow right outside my door. I've been harvesting and cooking them with navy beans and olive oil. Bloodroot has been blooming in the forest. In our first week up, our dog Karmal found a baby porcupine and bit it! I could get the quills out of her face but she had to go the vet to get the ones on the roof of her mouth removed. The porcupine seemed scared but unharmed. He was gone from under this bush the next morning. The cherry orchard next door was beautiful in bloom.We had family up and took them to the Empire, MI Asparagus festival. Here's my son Alex chowing down on bread there.One of the asparagus items for sale at the festival was crepes with Swiss cheese, asparagus, and pesto cream. It was good but not as good as the deep-fried asparagus with honey-mustard sauce. We also had asparagus-chicken chili, grilled asparagus and asparagus brats, also some very good cherry mead.
Wooden morel mushrooms from the National Morel Festival in Boyne City, MI
Some overpriced, dried out morels from the festival. I'm happy I passed on these because I've found cheaper and better ones locally since.
My cat Abbie had a rough first few days but is settled in nicely now. Here she is lounging on the kitchen counter top, where she's not supposed to be.I've been working on several gardening projects but watering the lawn seed has been the biggest hassle. I'm trying out a 'No-Mow' lawn.
A walk in the woods with my other cat, Nelson, lead us to a patch of Jack-in-the-pulpit in bloom.
We also found an asparagus patch on our property. My son Alex is picking in the background.