For The Love Of…Spring

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by Artemis Crow

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I live in southern New Hampshire so my spring really only started a few weeks ago. We even had a light snow in May, twice in one day. That’s not the norm, but in my town we don’t start our garden until around May 15th. I am an author and I’m very fortunate to be able to do it full time. I already worked from home before the pandemic, so that didn’t change, other than I pool all my errands into one run every 2-3 weeks rather than the impulsive dash out the door I used to do.

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A secondary benefit to being home all the time is I get to watch the change that happens between early spring where we’re still getting snow and freezing temperatures, and later spring when Mother Nature is waking up and sharing her glory.

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So today’s post is less about me blathering on about a topic and more about sharing the beauty I get to see out the picture window and in my backyard.

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When we moved to our town we had four big dogs: one German Shepherd boy, and three Doberman girlies. They needed room to run, so in my months long effort to find a home for us, I stumbled across a ranch home (yay!), in town (amenities and infrastructure, double yay!), and on a little over two acres (holy beautiful upkeep, Batman!). We were fortunate to get it and we fenced in an acre for the dogs, while leaving the back acre open for the deer and turkeys and all the other wildlife flying and running around back there. And it’s beautiful.

The photos above are not found in my yard but they’re so beautiful I had to share them. Below are images I found that are representative of what we’re getting to enjoy now. I hope by sharing this, you also find joy in this time of fear and sorrow and stress.

The yard has a mix of grassy areas and stand of trees. The back acre actually has two stands of trees between two grassy areas. One plant I’ve really enjoyed seeing flourish are the ferns. Since moving here they’ve gone from struggling to thriving in patches here and there among the trees.

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The hickory trees, mostly shagbark hickory, are just now opening up. We have worked hard to give them room to grow, as well as the oaks, to give wildlife a source of nuts in the fall and over the winter.

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And the oak leaves are opening up, too.

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This year the maples saplings are going gangbusters. Seriously, they’re everywhere. But I have learned that the wildlife will eat them, which is fine since we have plenty of maples already. Look at that baby though!

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The large maple trees have just leaved out and they’re the beautiful pale green so indicative of spring.

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We also have some huge, and I mean huge, pine trees, so we see a lot of these babies (and the moss) as well.

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Last year we tried to start a garden and lost most everything to a late freeze. This time we started the seeds a little later and we have lift off! If all goes well (and the rascally rabbits don’t gorge out), we’ll have broccoli, brussels sprouts, eggplant, tomatoes, peas, arugula, romaine lettuce, butter crisp and honeydew melon.

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I hope you’ve found a little pleasure exploring spring with me. We all need a chance to reengage our sense of wonder and get lost in it.

Have you wandered out to see spring’s wonders? Did you plant a garden this year? I’d love to hear your stories and see your pictures.

May your words flow freely,

Artemis

Artemis Crow

www.artemiscrow.com

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