Lunchtime weeding found me experiencing sleet and black flies at the same time. This was certainly a first for bizarre May conditions. But no matter how odd the weather, I can only be glad for our relatively benign conditions. I talked to a dear soul yesterday who had lost half her town in the tornadoes.
Counting my blessings today included savoring the Pink Magnolia in Ben’s yard. This one is going to make a lovely Flower Essence- Here she is looking radiant in today’s sleet.
The wonderful month of May begins here at the farm with a flourish of Magnolia blossoms.
Over the tops of these Daffodils you can see us engaged in our primary May garden activity; weeding.
( Or for the dogs, supervising the weeders) In this shot, May May keeps an eagle eye of Sophie, Lizzy and Lauren as they weed one of the vegetable gardens.
And now before our day in the office begins, I am off to water all the seedlings in the greenhouse and cold frames. So much thirsty new life!
Almost graduate Emily has just one more month of college. Then she will be home for the summer before life calls her in new as yet unknown directions. One thing she’d like to do this summer is take a photo of a Flower or moment in the garden each day then post it on Facebook.
In the interim, I am going to try and post more spring Flower portraits here. Today was a lovely blessedly warm day following after a snow storm yesterday. As I wandered in the gardens half delirious with the novel experience of being outside without arctic gear, the Flower that caught my attention for a portrait was Lungwort Flower, latin name Pulmonaria. This sweet Flower often tucks itself under the Daffodils, making everyone look the better for it. Long used medicinally for lung complaints, this wonderful Flower friend is a vital ingredient in our Breathe mix.
Despite our chilly April weather, or perhaps because of it, the Hellebores have never looked more beautiful.
I boil sap all day every day. I finish off sap in the house into the night. I have every pot I own filled with sap that is somewhere in the continum between thick enough to bring into the house and ready to be canned.
Yesterday I boiled as hard as I could and I barely made a dent in what needs to be boiled.
I have burned through our wood pile but the house isn’t cold at night, just fogged up with hot sticky sap boiling off . I am now burning old boards more ready for the compost pile than my evaporator. Soon I will be collecting logs from the side of the road to stoke my fire. Because this year….. the sap keeps on coming.
And coming.
And coming.
And some people are getting rather tired of sap.
