by Aimee
A beautiful, balmy weekend saw the last of our snow shrink into small piles and then sink away into the ground.
Early on Easter Sunday morning, I tucked my pyjamas into my rain boots and slipped outside with my camera before the rest of the house was awake. I wanted to hunt for signs of life in a brown backyard.
I found more than I expected – and the parallels between my discoveries and the holiday did not escape my attention. It’s been a long, cold winter. These signs of spring are a resurrected earth rejoicing.
Almost overnight, the damp lawn took on a green tinge as slivers of new grass poked up from the mud to replace the snow slush. The trees are still bare, but soon, they too will wear the pale green garb.
In the woods, just beyond the garden, new ramps are pushing through the detritus – all the composting leaves and twigs on the forest floor. At first I only spotted a few, but then the morning sun slanted onto their green tips and illuminated a throng of the delicate bulbs.
The morning air was tinged with the sweet garlic smell of ramps; it is a promising crop. Each year I tend to the patch, gently thinning where the bulbs are becoming too cramped. Each year they come back in greater numbers.
Thanks to one cold night late last week, we’ve had a resurgence in maple water and a few more sap boils. We’re not taking our buckets down or our taps out just yet. This spring has been a fickle one, and we may receive more cold weather still.
From afar the raised bed gardens looked lonely and cold, the soil slightly tinged with frost, but upon closer inspection, I found life. Chives are returning, as well as thyme and oregano. They are the first perennial herbs to awake in the spring.
Rhubarb buds have all popped through and will soon be shooting forth leaves and tall stalks. I can hardly wait for the first harvest. It’s always such a refreshing contrast to all the winter root vegetables we’ve been eating.
And sunning themselves on the picnic table are our seedlings – herbs, tomatoes, flowers, and a couple of melons. The cool air and the gentle breeze helps strengthen their stalks and keeps them from getting to leggy.
It will be another 3-4 weeks before we can safely plant them in the garden without risk of frost. Spring has only just begun, but it IS here at last.
How is Spring announcing her arrival in your area?
Signs of spring on our urban homestead is a post from Simple Bites
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