Sunday, March 28, 2010

Signs of Spring 2010


I changed the photo on the heading of my blog earlier this week to show our garlic fields in early spring with the winter snow all gone and the water finally drained from the paths, complete with Kaya walking and inspecting the rows just like a farmer. I've also included a few other signs of early spring from our farm, our current home, and our community garden.

(Photo: Moving out of our community garden since we will finally be farming right out the kitchen door this year. Yes, we are moving the rocks we have dug up for future use somehow at the farm. Kaya loves her freedom during spring garden clean-up.)

(Photo: Garlic peeking up at the farm through its winter mulch!! Different varieties are coming up at different rates. All this information goes into the farm journal as we ultimately will decide which varieties are the best producers for this soil.)

(Photo: Primrose along a backyard path at our current home. Maize and blue flowers were planted when my older son graduated from the University of Michigan in 2004. Other colors have since been added, but the some of the original plants will move with us to the farm to us help us remember that happy event.)

(Photo: Chives coming up at our current home. I am not sure that I need to transplant these. There are so many chives growing everywhere at the farm, that jokingly, we have considered "Chives Gone Wild" as a name for our farm! I'm serious - they are everywhere!)

(Photo: Lilac buds on the farm - I can't wait to see what color they are and smell them. I had a row of young light purple lilacs at our home in Illinois, planted one year by my sons for Mother's Day. I have missed them for 22+ years, so I look forward to enjoying these!)

Spring smells like the earth itself, spring sights like the first flock of sandhill cranes heading north overhead or seeing a kettle of turkey vultures coming back home, spring warmth (an unexpected burst and then the more typical incremental increases), increasing daylight plus the clarity of the spring light itself, spring sounds like the first song sparrow or the Western chorus frogs and Spring peepers heard in all the little wet spots all around our property. I could go on and on............. The best thing about Midwestern winters is noticing every little bit of spring. We don't take anything for granted here and embrace the return with gratefulness and gusto!

I have begun collecting poems and quotes about our soil, our earth, our land. If you have one you call a favorite, please send it to me or share it in the comment section! Here is one of my favorites:

It is only when we are aware of the earth
and of the earth as poetry that we truly live.
~~ Henry Beston, 1935, Herbs and the Earth

"Cultivate your life - you are what you grow - inch by inch, row by row"

Diana Dyer, MS, RD

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I LOVE it and I LOVE the potential name...one of the CSA's over here in Grand Rapids is called, Crane Dance Farm;)

Rhonda

Kateri said...

My lilacs are budding too. It will be exciting to see the colors. The chives look good. Chives Gone Wild really isn't a bad name. :) It appears the chives I transplanted from my Ann Arbor garden did not survive the winter (still trying to figure out how that is possible--they have always grown like weeds when I have planted them in the past.)


A garden is evidence of faith. It links us with all the misty figures of the past who also planted and were nourished by the fruits of their planting. --Gladys Taber

This quote especially rings true as you watch the remnants of what some one planted before you grow for the first time.

Uncharted Journey said...

You inspired me to try planting garlic last fall -- about 12 cloves in my backyard garden. And here in the Catskills in NY, I have little green shoots poking up too. Very exciting!