Seeking spring
Last
year at this time, the snowdrops were blooming, but this year the
ground is hard and chilled. So I set out on Sunday afternoon to
search for spring.
For the first time in
weeks, the bees
were out on cleansing flights
and the nearby wild hazel bushes were close to blooming. The
catkins had elongated and softened, but still no sign of stamens ---
not spring yet!
In the forest
garden,
the comfrey leaves had died back into a brown mulch. But in the
center of each plant, little green tufts of new leaves were poking
up. Spring?
Down at the baby creek,
I got captivated by flashing ripples over the clay streambed. Not
spring, but definitely pretty.
Then, at last, I found a
flower. Sure, it's witch-hazel (which can bloom at intervals all
winter), but I'm counting it! February's first flower --- spring!
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About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.
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Well, I'm in search of spring here too. This is one of the coldest winters I remember for around here, at least since I was a kid. It snowed twice here! we are lucky if it snows once in this neck of the woods.
The biggest problem I have right now is that it is WET! WET! WET! I can't do anything around here without walking through standing water. Ick! Although, I guess you can relate since you seem to have your share of mud & muck too.
I can't wait for it to warm up & dry out. I've got a ton of plants in seedling stage waiting for it to warm up a bit here. I figure we have another couple of weeks of frosting nights left. I lost one of my kumquats this year due to the unusual cold, but the other seemed to fare better. Guess I need to buy a replacement if it doesn't come back to life soon. I should schedule some time off work to go buy up some more fruit trees this year...
I can't wait for spring, but I am dreading summer. :P