Flowers and Fields

Noticing.  No!  Searching ... For Signs

AWAKE, northern hemisphere!  "There is an appointed time for everything" writes the author of Ecclesiastes. It's time to resurrect from rest and spring forth with life and beauty! It's time to bid months of sunless skies and frigid temps farewell.

There has been evidence lately, that changes are underfoot. I saw a hopeful soul wearing sunglasses the other day ... and not because of snow glare. The local ice cream stand has opened. The gold finches at the feeder are beginning to regain their color. Maple buds are swelling. Fields are drying. Daffodils are muscling through a thick mat of leaves. And, I spotted a groundhog, freed from hibernation, scurrying along the edge of the woods yesterday. All positive signs ... well, maybe not the groundhog.

Winter is on the run. Smile. Though, winter is not without merit. Its slower tempo allows time for re-evaluating and planning and preparing.

A farm "meeting" was held in January. Actually, it was a road trip to Amish country to order supplies for this season's plantings ... plastic mulch and drip tape for irrigation ... and thousands of seeds. Next, we found the Miller farm and talked to "Anna," the Amish lady who grew 150,000 onions (in her spare time) last summer. She is going to start about 5,000 for us this year. When we arrived, she was sewing ... "britches."  I'd love to spend a week at their farm, observing and learning her simple ways. She has such a kind, humble spirit. But, I digress ... oh, and by the way, we did stop for a hearty Amish lunch in Mt. Hope. Business lunch ... of course! One of us had even taken the time to write an agenda. It wasn't me.

Winter is also the time to receive and search through colorful seed catalogs!!! I've ordered gladiolus bulbs and dahlia tubers already, but still have to finalize the flower seed order. So many choices! It's like trying to decide which palette colors to use in a painting. I've got a couple of new things in mind. But, more about that later ... meanwhile ....

Stretch ... yawn ... wake UP!!!!! Spring is here!
... at least that's what the calendar says.