Category: Spring

The Promise of Spring

It’s a magnificent spring. Just enough rain and warmth to make the apple blossoms pop and the hum of happy bees fills the air. The lilacs seem to be more fragrant and the flowers are jubilantly beginning their display. I saw my first fawn this year chasing their mama and mushrooms are emerging from their slumber. Nature has a way of reminding us what is important when we pay attention.

It’s easy these days to be sidetracked by the endless attacks on goodwill, but I don’t think it’s wise to forget the renewal of spring as discontent continues to spread. It’s the resilience spring teaches that is needed now. It’s the wonder of life and of the seasons, which we know will come and go and come again. Yes, the deer may visit the garden and if not the deer, the rabbits or groundhogs will feast on everything we plant. Well thankfully not everything! But it does seem no matter how high the fence, someone gets in. Gardening is not for the weak of heart. There is no certainty. Learning to live in uncertainty is an art and a practice. Last year’s June frost took out the tomatoes we planted, but friends shared their extra plants with us and all went well.

Now, regardless of what comes, this is our moment to drink in the promise that is spring.

There is a healthy fear that gives warning and there is a paralyzing fear that weaken us. We are not meant for paralyzing fear. We are meant to be emergent. We are meant to be creative. We must be undaunted by forces that would rock our gardens and our lives. 

I will always believe there are more people wanting peace than the alternative. I have been witness to it. Let us find one another. Let us help one another. Let us model the best of what humanity can be. 

It is still ours to create this beautiful garden.

Cycles Come and Go

And just like that everything is green again. Despite the chilly nights Spring has arrived. Birds are back and gracing us with song. Rhubarb and asparagus are abundant, and spruce tips will become a favored drink. Nettles are welcomed here and we cook them with our morning eggs. Later they’ll be dried for tea. The ongoing battle to keep free-ranging chickens out of the garden is only topped by the numerous groundhog holes that are popping up.

So it goes. Life has its cycles. And we have our choices. Putting up fencing or getting some groundhog recipes are high on the list of choices right now. Neither of which we’ll do.

There are practical skills learned by living with the land. At some point you must decide which battles are worthy of your time and which are not.

I think everyone should take at least a one-year stint of living on a farm and attempting to be sustainable. If you’re fortunate you’ll learn about what is precious, and if you’re really paying attention you may even remember what is sacred.

The notion of progress has defined us as “modern people”. The irrational pursuit of wealth has crippled our ability to care for one another. The simplest joys elude us as we join the rat race and leave the human race behind.

It doesn’t have to be that way. In our heart of hearts, we know it doesn’t have to be that way. But we’ve been conditioned to follow the leader to the exclusion of what we know is possible. It’s time for that to change.

Cycles come and cycles go. If we would allow the longing for simplicity and the need for peace to lead once more, this cycle of darkness would end.  

Made for You

It’s the little things this time of year that captivate the spirit and invigorate the mind. The recent rain and bright sun awakened the earth and you will now find trillium and May apples dancing in the breeze. Bloodroot, another forest plant, arrives early and shyly displays brilliant white blossoms. 

And for culinary delight, nettles and asparagus are found at breakfast with eggs our chickens and ducks offer in abundance.

I’m ever on the lookout for young saplings to protect from roving deer or our sheep that mow every tender morsel in sight. 

I hear some people have found morels, but our valley may still be too cool for that. Everything will come in its time, to those who have patience to wait and the diligence to keep searching. 

It’s no surprise that this momentous occasion called spring has been the source of frivolity and celebration through the ages. People who live among the wild things cannot escape the incredible display of life in and around them. 

To ignore these precious moments is to sleepwalk. It cannot be an easy feat to miss this eruption of life and not give the adoration it is due, for it is indeed awesome and feeds our soul.    

To call Nature a great teacher is an understatement. Yet I find the greatest teacher of all to be appreciation. The gift to behold beauty and be lured into a quiet state of mind is the fruit of appreciation. Without it, the impeccable fragrance of the orchard is ignored; the sweet songs of the birds go unheard. 

Appreciation is the gift we give ourselves and is quite capable of relieving every burden. If you have missed the sweetness of the season, turn around, slow down and drink in this moment. It was made for you.