May again! It seems we've jumped from the new year to maple syrup season, and right to getting the gardens in order. Spring is a chaotic season in comparison to the solitude and peacefulness that accompanies winter. My dear friend Barb put in an order for onions, and I got mine all in, as well as some shallots and a few dozen strawberry plants. The stored-in-the-cellar dahlias, tuberose, and gladiolus were hauled up this week and given a once-over and sorted. Today was spent planting them, along with a half-dozen new blueberry bushes. Between the rain, I've managed to lay down straw to mulch for weed control between the rhubarb, horseradish, asparagus and strawberries. Seeds are started, and coming up... even with the lack of warm weather and all the rain we've been getting. Finally got my new egg house built and opened for the season, too. I'm feeling accomplished but in reality, I'm just trying to stay ahead of the game! All through the winter, we've been inundated with squirrels... red, grey, and one black squirrel too. Between them, the chipmunks, and the deer, they've wreaked havoc on a number of apple trees, lilac bushes, and crab apples; some of which will need to be replaced. I worry about the certain damage they will cause in the berry and vegetable gardens when things get growing.
Still in all, I am grateful for the changing seasons... the predictability and comfort each brings, like a visit from an old friend. I never tire of hearing the Canadian geese returning, or the peepers call out in the pond and swamps. It is a pleasure to see the various songbirds coming back to the feeders, either to stay for the summer, or just stopping by on their journey northward. I've already seen a few hummingbirds, a couple of rose-breasted grosbeaks, yellow finches, a Carolina wren, hermit thrush, and some bluebirds, along with the regulars from winter! And almost every morning as the sun is coming up, I've been hearing a loon flying west to east, but only for a few minutes.
As spring slowly creeps across the countryside, native wildflowers appear to brighten a short hike through the fields and woods. The coltsfoot and pussywillows have already gone by, and are being replaced with wood violets, hepetica, bloodroot, cowslips, and beautiful masses of dandelions... each one with a small pollinator in it's center! I've noted numerous skunk cabbage along the edges of the wetlands. The old muskrat is back in the pond, as well as the pair of woodchucks who live under the barn. The pond is teaming with pollywogs, salamanders, turtles, water boatmen, a great blue heron, and a pair each of Canadian geese and wild ducks. Soon the lilacs will be blooming, along with the apple, pear and cherry trees. I hope we stave off the threat of a late frost for their sake. It's been a few years since we've had enough apples for cider.
Yes, spring creeps back in with uncertainty, dragging her feet through the mud as she comes. The only thing predictable about her is her unpredictability!
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