Fine. I'll admit it. I love spring with all my being. I love that it comes after a cold and monochromatic season. I love that it's fresh and let's you believe that you can correct mistakes and start anew. I love that once the first flower appears, there will always be something lovely blooming. I love that the fragrance of flowers is in the air. I love that the bugs haven't yet established their summer residence. I love that it's the season of daffodils, tulips, lilacs, apple blossoms and lilies-of-the valley and if that isn't enough, it's also the season of peonies and irises.
The day is sunny and warm once again. And once again, I am out digging, moving and planting just after sunrise.
The crab apple is so heavenly that you will be flooded with her images here. After this day, the petals will start to drop, but today, we are given the full glorious display of her blossoms.
Is it in competition with the lilac? Not really. True, the crab apple dominates the landscape because the tree is so vast and the delicate flower heads are so profuse. But the stately lilac -- oh, that's a winner too. And the fragrance! Oh, that lilac fragrance!
But, but -- it's the best day for the crab! Let's concentrate on the way this tree gently frames so many of the farmette's lovely treasures!
Better yet, let's admire the two mid-May beauties together. I found out today that the best place to get a photo of both is from the porch roof.
Breakfast is on the porch. Not on the porch roof!
And then we both set to our outdoor tasks. I finish planting nearly all of the new acquisitions. "Cupcake! Would you like to move?"
The fact is, both the big girls and now, too, the little girls love to keep us in their fields of vision. If we disappear into some corner of the farmette, sooner or later they'll track us down to see what it is we're up to.
Ed is done prepping the bed for the tomato plants and so I pause with my flower work and join him in the field. We had planted 96 seeds and all but three produced magnificent plants. In they go!
The cheepers help!
And now it's evening. Tomatoes are in, most of the new flowers are planted, the seeds are sown. And now we enter stage two of spring farmette work: it's the aid and assist period, where my job is to feed, prune, water and watch over the plants that are in the ground. And exclaim in surprise and great delight when something new opens up its face for the first time. Today: the yellow iris!
As we end our work for the day, we take the time to walk toward the edge of the farmette, to asses the progress of the development work. We really don't know how it will look at the end of the week, month or year. Right now, there are areas of packed clay soil, some high, some low. The truck farmers' gardens are nearly all destroyed, though we find one with asparagus still growing in it. We harvest what's left, before the trucks plow it down tomorrow.
It's a brilliant evening. The bats swoop, the lilacs release another burst of fragrance, the swallows circle and retreat, circle and retreat. Their nest is, as always, in the garage. The little ones will be born soon.
To the scent of lilacs, I add a whiff of lily-of-the-valley. Blooming just now.
In May, every day brings new flowers. But it is of course the entirety, the whole big mess of beauty that sets our senses spinning.
The day is sunny and warm once again. And once again, I am out digging, moving and planting just after sunrise.
The crab apple is so heavenly that you will be flooded with her images here. After this day, the petals will start to drop, but today, we are given the full glorious display of her blossoms.
Is it in competition with the lilac? Not really. True, the crab apple dominates the landscape because the tree is so vast and the delicate flower heads are so profuse. But the stately lilac -- oh, that's a winner too. And the fragrance! Oh, that lilac fragrance!
But, but -- it's the best day for the crab! Let's concentrate on the way this tree gently frames so many of the farmette's lovely treasures!
Better yet, let's admire the two mid-May beauties together. I found out today that the best place to get a photo of both is from the porch roof.
Breakfast is on the porch. Not on the porch roof!
And then we both set to our outdoor tasks. I finish planting nearly all of the new acquisitions. "Cupcake! Would you like to move?"
The fact is, both the big girls and now, too, the little girls love to keep us in their fields of vision. If we disappear into some corner of the farmette, sooner or later they'll track us down to see what it is we're up to.
Ed is done prepping the bed for the tomato plants and so I pause with my flower work and join him in the field. We had planted 96 seeds and all but three produced magnificent plants. In they go!
The cheepers help!
And now it's evening. Tomatoes are in, most of the new flowers are planted, the seeds are sown. And now we enter stage two of spring farmette work: it's the aid and assist period, where my job is to feed, prune, water and watch over the plants that are in the ground. And exclaim in surprise and great delight when something new opens up its face for the first time. Today: the yellow iris!
As we end our work for the day, we take the time to walk toward the edge of the farmette, to asses the progress of the development work. We really don't know how it will look at the end of the week, month or year. Right now, there are areas of packed clay soil, some high, some low. The truck farmers' gardens are nearly all destroyed, though we find one with asparagus still growing in it. We harvest what's left, before the trucks plow it down tomorrow.
It's a brilliant evening. The bats swoop, the lilacs release another burst of fragrance, the swallows circle and retreat, circle and retreat. Their nest is, as always, in the garage. The little ones will be born soon.
To the scent of lilacs, I add a whiff of lily-of-the-valley. Blooming just now.
In May, every day brings new flowers. But it is of course the entirety, the whole big mess of beauty that sets our senses spinning.
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