Spring, splendid Spring

"In daily life we must see that it is not happiness that makes us grateful, but gratefulness that makes us happy."
David Steindl-Rast
Benedictine brother

"Be like a postage stamp. Stick to one thing until you get there."
Josh Billings


The season of warmth and green growing things is well upon us, and for that I am exceedingly grateful...and happy!
Tender green shoots are inching upwards in the greenhouse. The garlic and strawberries have been relieved of their winter hay coats and are looking mighty lovely. Parsnips were planted for the first time last year and dug up on a blustery early April day. My oh my, they are tasty and sweet!

April 5th and 12th brought us blizzards and wet, heavy snow - about a foot each storm. Then came the big nor-easter on April 16th with lots of rain and wind. But by the 18th I was able to begin planting some peas in our upper garden which dries out relatively early. Then we were blessed with a series of warm and sunny days which we all sorely deserved and made us feel that Lady Spring was finally able to muscle her way past King Winter.

The hens are happily laying close to three dozen eggs a day. The sheep are still waiting for the shearer to come and for the grass to become greener and taller. We have a new kitty-cat who lives in the workshop. She was a stray who came to us in December, and her job is to keep the workshop as a mouse-free zone. So far, she seems to be doing a fine job. Sometimes her name is Fido, other times it is BD, but mostly it is...Kitty. She is very spunky and full of personality and lots of fun to have around the yard.

The winter did bring us at least one sad loss. Mrs. Mouse squeezed into the bigger, stronger beehive, made a big nest, gave birth to four babies and managed to eat thousands of bees. Afterwards I learned that the mouse guard needs to be put on by early September which was probably at least one of my mistakes.

Daffodils, forsythia and hyacinth are blooming! And a mere two weeks ago they were under snow. A miracle.
We are planting fruit trees this year! Eleven dwarf apple trees were planted a few days ago. A few more apples, plus peaches, pears and elderberries are going to arrive in the next week. We are also planting a couple dozen
blackberry bushes and more strawberry plants. In a few years, we hope to have lots of fruit to pick and savor.

We no longer have any resident geese or ducks, but we do have regular visitors to the pond - Mr. and Mrs. Mallard, Mr. Ring-necked Duck (mighty handsome), the occasional Canada Geese, and Harry the Heron. The osprey flies overhead hoping for a good catch, but there do not seem to be many trout left, so we will probably stock it again. Our ravens are back and nesting close to where they were last year. Mr. Raven - also known as One-Leg for he always flies with one claw hanging down - is very curious and keeps track of all our various goings on regularly. Mr. Red-tailed Hawk is another regular flying above the driveway. Yesterday we saw two red-headed, pileated woodpeckers together on a tree - that was quite a sight.

We are well on our way to another glorious growing season in this beautiful, peaceful part of the world.
Our blessings really do overflow.


"In all things of nature, there is something of the marvelous." Aristotle