The Vernal Equinox: Spring
Well it is supposed to be officially Spring. We are back into some cold weather. It is not bitter,cold, (-5C), but cold enough after being teased for a few days with some lovely warm (er) weather 10C. I guess this is just one of the signs of Spring around here freezing and thawing days. With the warm sun and the longer days the snow is making a retreat even when it is below freezing, another sign of Spring for sure.
You can almost see the snow disappear some days. It had decreased by over half.
I wonder what Heidi is thinking. "I thought that cold stuff was a little closer yesterday." She actually prefers to walk on the snow than get her feet wet in the water and mud.
This is my side lawn. I can hear all you garden proud people exclaiming. "Oh, my God!" Luckily, I try to live by the dictum. "Don't sweat the little things. The pigs have been rooting it up with their little snouts looking for all kinds of tender morsals: roots or grubs. They have done a real job on it. It is hard with frost right now. The pigs are busy seeking out other places with a little ground to ravish further way from the house.
In a couple of weeks I will smooth out the ground, toss a little grass seed around and by the end of the summer I will have good sod once again.
Here is a sure sign of Spring. My chickens are starting to lay again. (They never did completely stop.) As a result, we can get an assortment of sizes. Left to right: extra large, large, medium, petit. The real small one is a hen's first effort. She will do better with the next one. The big one may be a double yoker. I won't know until I crack it.
These are just a couple of signs of Spring in my yard. There are others like the crows showing up and the leaf buds on the lilac bush getting bigger. I am sure you all have special signs of Spring where you are. I won't feel like it is Spring for real until there is very little snow in the bush and I can walk in and find the bloodroot plant. This is one of the first flowering plants of the season. It grows close to the ground and has a lovely small white flower that closes up at night. Native Canadians used this plant for the red dye in the root both for cloth and face painting. It is a poisonous plant although I have read it has been used in very small amounts as a medicinal plant.
Enjoy the Spring. May your rubber boots develop no holes.
posted by Tossing Pebbles in the Stream @ 11:56 a.m.
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10 Comments:
Phillip, what a lovely view in the first picture.Please post one of it in full 'bloom' whenever that is.
With your "plows on legs" and the ground most likely fertilized also, maybe you should go ahead and till and plant a crop of something!
Ah, the bloodroot; I love it. It grew all over our woods when I was a child. Guess it still does unless the city destroyed the land. The Herb and Metal Co here used to buy it. Don't exactly what its used for; I'll have to look in my herbal medicines books.
The snow is fleeing--and Heidi does indeed look puzzled. Our dog also prefers snow to walk on. But ours has long melted.
Happy Spring to you.
Ah, yes, Happy Equinox to you, too!
We have a heavy frost this morning, but the cherry blossoms still look good. The forsythia is in full bloom and we have had daffodils for a couple of weeks. The later camellias are opening.
But, the ground is soft and muddy from the freezing and thawing at the surface, and it is starting to green up, patches of grass here and there taking over the brown stuff of wonter.
Our total snow amt this winter was actually almost 4 inches. Not bad.
Maybe you need to get Heidi some boots!
Philip,
We don't have any snow here now. Even the snow by the fence rows has melted, but yesterday was very chilly because of a brisk wind. It' s to be warmer over the weekend and I hope you get some of that weather as well. It's been a long winter.
The eggs are quite the assortment. Enjoy and be sure to let us know if that is a double yoker.
When you venture into the woods for the first time, be sure to take along the camera. I would love to see a photo of bloodroot. I don't think I've ever seen it and if I have I didn't know what it was.
Enjoy your weekend.
Blessings,
Mary
Are all your hens the same type? I never knew there was such a variety when they were all the same breed ... or whatever you call it.
Maybe I could borrow your pigs to plow up my back jungle...I've thought of getting goats.
We still have at least three feet around our place!!! Why is that when you have so little? Maybe it's because we are almost all shade, I don't know.
I do know that it's frozen so solid now that our dogs can just walk over the fence instead of sinking which has had me out chasing them almost every morning this week in my nightie!!! Two of them do come back, but two have no homing sense whatsoever!!
Happy Ostara! Spring is finally here. :) Once again, Mother Earth is wakening from her long winter slumber. What a great time of year!
I don't have any rubber boots, so I don't have to worry about getting holes in them! :)
The forsythia and daffodils are blooming so pretty here.
What an assortment of different size hen eggs!
Hello Phillip
Now the ghastly furnace like hot weather has gone our temps. are going up and down like a ............well I won't let you in on that saying.
One day very cool and another quite warm - Autumnal weather, but it could also be just Melbourne and her contrary weather patterns being the cause of the fluctuations:)
Take care
Cathy
We need some of those pigs to dig up our yard for our grass seed! It never takes.
When I first saw the egg picture I felt sure you had eggs from 4 different kinds of birds! The kids were fascinated (so was I for that matter) that they were all hens' eggs.
Hope Heidi can keep her feet dry. We excel in the mud here as well.
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