This foolish business of Spring

'Tis a misty moisty morning this first day of April.  O to be a fool, while spring is in the world!  (thanks, e.e.)  Dragonwood is green, looking much as it would in early May.  The early wildflowers, which usually emerge this time of year, have already bloomed and gone.  Now the trilliums open, and May apples are not far behind.  There are still fair patches of white in the woods, but those spots dwindle as new leaf growth races toward the sun.  A troop of six deer frequents our forest, going so far as to cross the driveway when the children and I were headed towards the road one morning.  We counted them as some people do the cars of a train.  Our bees have been busy already this year, making the most of the early nectar flow.  We put supers on the hives in mid-March, hoping to share in the bounty.  This very moment, outside the kitchen window, two large squirrels battle for territory.  It's so amazing to see them leap onto fragile branches.  Ah, one has lost.  It was chased too far onto a bending branch, where it could not escape.  The aggressor then backed off and climbed its chosen tree in triumph.  The winner poses, head up, but headfirst towards the ground, where I can admire his sleek body and bushy tail.  As he leaves to go about his buisiness, a robin with nest material in its beak pauses a moment to rest in the squirrel's tree.  Life bursts forth all around us. 

Early Spring in Dragonwood

     This has been a morning in which every beat of my heart throbs with gratefulness and joy.  Birds sing from every quarter of Dragonwood.  Spicebush is in bloom, making a hazy yellow layer in the understory.  Spring beauties and a few other woodland wildflowers blossom.  We find DeKay's brownsnakes, from a hand's-length red-bellied beauty on the doormat to a foot-long matriarch skimming the leafy ground.
     The bees meet the challenge of an early warm spell by gathering great amounts of pollen and honey from the budding maples and wildflowers.  Maple pollen looks like creamy pale yellow dust, while some of the wildflower pollen is bright red.  Crocuses, too, produce reddish or bright orange pollen.  So much honey is being collected that we put honey supers on two of three hives.
     Every day is a new adventure for 6-year-old Squirrelboy and me.  He earned the privilege of visiting the neighbor's woods (larger than ours) by diligently cleaning up the roadside trash.  His kindness and persistence impressed her, and she apparently values the precious gift of a childhood spent in the woods.  So now, every day after school, I must go on an adventure with my increasingly bold explorer.  I follow his long legs and tousled blond hair into the forest.  He finds paths for me across logs and around thornbushes.  Squirrelboy is a gentleman, too, pointing out hazards and picking up treasures.  We talk about the value of keeping wild places healthy, and how to show respect for our neighbors when we are on their property.  Under his shining blue eyes, the freckles darken, and I fall in love with my beautiful boy all over again.
     I discover bones, and we wonder what this animal could have been.  Sharp teeth and large, forward pointing eyesockets mean it must have been a carnivore that could hunt.  From the size of the skull, I guess it could have been a coon or opossum. 
     Indoors, we hear the voices of eight peeps!  These baby chickens will grow our flock.  Of course, the children have already named them:  Owl and America, the blue/green egg-laying Ameracaunas; Lily and Ginny, the Cherry Eggers; Silvie and Amity, the Silver-Lace Wyandottes; and Lacey and Fire Ammonite, the Gold-Lace Wyandottes.  Can you guess which ones Squirrelboy named, which I named, and which were named by Faerygirl?  We suspect Fire Ammonite is a rooster, due to his petite size, bossy attitude and extra-loud constant peep.
   We at Dragonwood look forward to a beautiful season of garden, bees, chickens, woodland adventures, and unprecedented delights.  It has already begun.

First Flower of Spring

Squirrelboy brought me the first flower of Spring - a pretty yellow crocus. The bees from our three surviving hives are out visiting. I think the maple blossoms may be feeding them. I planted some early spring herbs - fenugreek, chervil, cilantro, amaranth, fennel, and cumin. The warmth today makes me want to plant and weed everything! Unfortunately, I don't have the time to do that today. The dog and cats are playful. We have seen the cranes, geese, and redwinged blackbirds returning. The blackbirds sing from the weeds, staking out their territories with music. Last week, all four of us went out in the cool wet mud and planted about 120 linear feet on the north and west side of the house in ferns and wildflowers. Inside, the rooms grow more beautiful as we hang pictures and move in furniture. There are still many details that need arranging, but we are happy to be living in such a beautiful place.

Robins

A little troop of robins, red breast feathers fluffed out against the cold, just flew merrily past the kitchen window. After three snow days in a row, these fellows remind us that winter must pass. Warmth and sunlight and green WILL return! Before the storm came, Squirrelboy and I discovered a bunny home at the base of a tree by following their tracks. Faerygirl enjoys pulling out the sled and slipping on the icy mounds heaped up by the winter storm. The Lord and Lady keep busy feeding the woodburners, looking forward to the days when our dragons aren't so hungry. At this time, we have lost 2 hives to starvation, but 5 are still pulling through.

Quickening Moon

Some cultures refer to the second full moon of the year as the "quickening moon". I heartily agree with the name. Thawing has begun in Dragonwood. All the beasts and birds are becoming more active. We hear lots of birdsong, owl hooting, and woodpecker knocking. This past weekend, the Lord of Dragonwood started to feel better. I helped him strip wires and prepare for running speaker wires. One of the nice things about building your own house is that you can build in surround sound! The kids helped clean and clear the spaces that we are finishing up. Over the past week or two, I've observed the robins and the geese returning. Branches I brought into the house have opened into soft green leaves. The Lord observed a hawk on its kill right at the end of our driveway! All this melt is making me antsy to begin laying out our garden beds for the coming year. It's hard to be patient when you know warmer weather is coming!