aspiring to be spring (but i'm not fooled)

  • Posted on: 14 March 2016
  • By: Previous Farm

 by Chappell on our previous farm

we're still playing catch-up here on the farm. i often feel like a dog chasing my tail in circles. potting seedlings up, putting seeds in trays. the rest of life is moving straight ahead to full-on spring: flowers popping up their heads, trees and bushes setting bud. birds taking up their stations as they always do. the red shouldered blackbirds are back in the field and around the pond, busy making nests. i know because they take up guard along the fence line to the greenhouse. they work in pairs. always one bird on a fence post two posts ahead of me. calling out and flapping around, trying to distract me from their new homes which will soon be full of eggs. my favorites, the blue birds, are all over the place. try as i might, i can not capture them on film. they are illusive and camera shy. as i work the beds for planting, i watch them flit back and forth from field, to bush to tree, as if apartment hunting, twittering all day long. they pass by within an arm's length sometimes, but if i pull out a camera, they're as good as gone.

the lettuce bed is planted, early enough this year for us to see if they can survive a freeze (and perhaps a light snow) with a bit of cover hoisted over them. it seems the last freeze always comes after the blooms have set on the fruit trees... we'll see if this year's any different. 

cardinal taking a peek inside
cardinal taking a peek inside

Comments

Looks and sounds like spring to me! But then I might be fooled as well. I love your photography by the way. Keep on keeping on!

gianni already has plans to fire up the rocket mass heater over the weekend and into monday and tuesday, when temps dip below freezing with a forecast of percipitation: "wintery mix, some snow" ...

I love this. I'm in Illinois at the moment and I've been paying attention to the birds. They are quite a sight!

hey marisa! i learn a lot by watching the behavior of birds. (like knowing when a predator snake is near by) we have SO many different birds here on the farm it's mind blowing. besides the ones mentioned in my blog, i've seen yellow gold finch and cedar waxwings, hummingbirds who seem to tap on the windows too (like they're ordering up another round of sweet water for themselves). just recently a pileated woodpeckers (at 12-15" body span) just to name a very small portion of those who populate the farm. they're pretty amazing to observe.