Fiddleheads

More Unfurling

Another gorgeous day, more weeding, more mulching, more woods walking.  

Tomorrow comes rain again.

 This turtle let me sneak up on him this afternoon

The roots of this tree really jumped today, reminded me of a big birds foot or a dinosaur claw.

 

Even though I've walked past a hundred times lately, something about the way the light was hitting the roots made me stop and take another look at this tree and snap a few photos.

At the Pond

Feeling sluggish this morning, even after coffee and my morning write, I opted to go straight out the door for a walk to shake off the sleepies.  When I stepped outside I could feel it would be a warmer day, though it was still a crisp 38 degrees.  Somethings changed, shifted, its April! and I can feel the spring is really going to happen now.  I trucked along the trail, down to the creek, checking out a few birds here and there, listening to the morning chorus that is growing by the day.  The creek has really been flowing smartly thanks to so much rain and I'm watching now hoping to see the big carp swimming up from University Lake to spawn.

 The may apples started unfurling in the past few days

On the way back by the pond I spotted a pair of geese swimming and a great blue heron fishing down at the marsh end so I stopped to take it all in.  I sat on the bench and watched a pair of kingfishers working on breakfast.  They would dash into the water with a splash, fly back up to a branch, whack the little silver fish thwack, thwack a couple of times to stun it, then reposition it in their bill and choke it down with a couple of gulps and a shake.  They were busy and I watched as they each caught several.

Placid morning pond, reflecting the fabulous blue sky

The turtles started to crawl up onto their logs for the daily sunbath.  I've counted as many as 15 lately on warm afternoons, lined up on the downed trees, large and small, mostly yellow-bellied sliders with a couple of snappers making themselves obvious, their fat heads sticking out, the size of my fist.  I wonder if they have their spots like kids in a classroom, regulars at a bar.  They are jumpy and won't let me get very close before they plop back into the water as I approach.

Oh, I am looking forward to the great unfurling, it is beginning and no matter how many years I watch, it never gets old.  Today, more weeding, hoping to get one of the big flower beds finished and mulched.  Wish me luck!

Everything's On The Move

It's been warm this week and after an inch of rain last night, a front pushed through bringing clear, dry air for the afternoon.  In the yard there are a few things pushing out, the blood root (above) started opening on Sunday along with quince and more daffodils.  The primroses open wider, making their Easter egg colors pop from the leaf litter, camellias continue and the plum trees (below) burst into bloom over the weekend.

In the veg garden the peas are starting to emerge and in the past week I planted carrots, beets and 200+ onion plants.  Tomatoes, eggplants, peppers and basil are snugged up in a corner of the bedroom in flats sitting atop a heat mat and under a grow light, germination was very good this year, despite some seeds dating back to the late 90's and early 2000's.  I store the packets in the freezer in plastic boxes and they can keep for a very long time.

This afternoon while touring the yard together to see what was new and exciting, I said to David "Look at that snaky root over there"  and then together we said "That's not a snaky root, that's a rooty snake!"  On closer inspection, it was a good sized black snake, basking in the sun and looking gray like a tree root because it was probably about to shed.

Later I took a long ramble through the woods and saw more critters doing the work of spring.  The lowlands were pulsating with the songs of peepers and chorus frogs.  As I passed by the pond, mud turtles plopped into the water off their sunning logs and hung near the surface, enjoying the warmth of the water after crawling out of their muddy winter beds.  I stood for a while on the bridge where the water from the pond flows down a waterfall into a creek.  The overflow was running high from last nights rain, noisy, splashing over rocks and eddying into a swirling foam galaxy at the bottom of the fall before rushing on down to Morgan. 

In the woods and along the stream banks the trout lilies are peaking, and the dainty white spring beauties are also blooming now.  I heard a pair of red-shouldered hawks and looking up spotted them right above me, having a courting conversation and when  the male flew with pine needles in his beak I followed him with my eye to the nest and made a note of which tree top the platform of sticks was resting in for future observation. 

I roamed overland, climbing up to a high ridge line that I seldom visit because it's a steep climb.  I had the urge because I know that too soon the ticks will be out and I won't want to go off the trail. Cruising along I was startled when I came upon this BIG snapping turtle right in the center of the trail.

I spent some time with this girl?  I think so, obviously on the move in search of a mate and a place to lay eggs, she was quite a distance from the nearest pond.  Her shell was easily 12 inches long. 

I tossed this pine cone down as a measure, it is 4 inches, same width as her head pretty much.  I admired her eyes, elephant skin, snout and that beak of a mouth ( if you click on the picture I think you can zoom in).   I kept my distance, I have read that a snapper can reach their neck out 12 inches in a quick thrust.  And check out those bear like claws!

I relish this time of year when the sap starts to rise in all things living, myself included.

Taxes finished- now I can fully enjoy the season

Dear friends-
Apologies once again for the long dry spell.  It's spring, what more can I say?  I just finished my taxes, phew, another year I managed to sort them out by myself with the help of Turbo Tax. Self-employment has some downsides, not the least of which is paying all 14% of your own social security, hopefully I'll actually get to collect back on that one day.

The past month has been filled with gardening both home and in town.  In the past few weeks I've enrolled about 15 new families bringing the total number of families in the three community gardens up to around 40.  I've only got a few plots left which is great.   It's the time of year when everyone is excited, the gardens are looking tidy and the new spring veggies are growing fast and green.  Hopefully the enthusiasm will continue,  there are always folks that flake out when it starts to get hot.

 On the home front- just a few highlights from the last few weeks:

New growth and cones on the evergreens, I roam around petting and fondling the tender tips

Weeping redbud Traveler.   My friend Michele says 

"Don't you want to sit and stare at that for about 8 hours and see how it changes you?"

If only I could find a spare 8 hours...

Apple trees in bloom, fortunately ours did not get nipped by the late frost last week

Pollen on the pond like marbled paper or chunky aggregate granite.  It's been so thick for weeks you could chew the air and everyone's complaining of scratchy throats, snotty noses, runny eyes and dusty houses.

Heavy rains in early April allowed the giant carp to swim up stream to spawn for the first time in several years.  Once their work is done, they die and become food for the critters.

Pinkster Azaleas in bloom.  They are finished now, the mountain laurel will be next...

That was just a taste really.  Been eating piles of asparagus, fresh baby green salads, radishes, finishing off the collards and kale from the winter, working away at last years storage crops, sweet potatoes, garlic, frozen tomato sauce and black-eyed peas, strawberries frozen and now fresh.

There have been lots of snakes of all kinds, new turtles come to court Gertrude, lizards galore and two gray tree frogs have taken up residence in the rain barrel.  They look like soft putty slapped down on the rim of the gray trash can, I can't put the lid on tight for fear of crushing them.

The lilac and dianthes are in bloom and their heavenly scents waft around the garden and into the open windows, rafts of blue and purple columbines adorn the front walkway with splashes of white daisies among them and dots of bright orange poppies scattered through.  The roses and peonies are about to put on the best show of our spring season.  I'll do my best to post some photos.

Now that the weather has settled down and nights are above 50 degrees for the most part, this coming week will be time to start planting the summer garden; tomatoes, beans, squash and cukes.  Once that is done, maybe we can slow down, but there is still lots of weeding, mulching and plant rearranging to be done...

Spring has Sprung (and so has the chickweed)

I know I shouldn't open with such an awful cliche, but I can't help it. We are having the longest spring warm spell I can remember and everything is just bursting out.  The tulip magnolia is a mass of blooms and walking by on a warm day the air is filled with the gingery-lemon scent of these two-tone flowers.  The daffodils and tulips are rushing to a finish, and lots of things I think of as April flowers are sending up buds and flower stalks with great speed.  We've had heavy rains and thunderstorms and temperatures in the high 70's and low 80's for two weeks straight now.  David has mowed the grass twice in the last week it's grown so fast due to the rains.

The view from inside the loropetalum is absolutely electric!

 

Stuck at my desk earlier this week I went out to sit on the back stoop in the sun for a minute and when  I looked over I noticed this garter snake sunning too on a stump next to the fountain.  It's been great to see all the reptiles re-emerging, lizards scurry up tree trunks and across the flagstone path.  Toads hop from under my feet and tiny chorus frogs spring away as I work my way through the flowerbeds pulling up the endless chickweed.  David unearthed Gertrude yesterday, her shell muddy, she moving slowly, not quite ready perhaps to wake up again.

It is the time of the great unfurling and the green up has begun. The red bud trees have been in full bloom all week and are suddenly wrapped in the green haze of the understory leafing out.  As I drive down country roads the many pastels of new growth surround me.  Here in our yard we stroll daily to take in the latest opening of a flower or fattening of a bud.  Pulling weeds as we wander along.  This is the camellia that my neighbor Portia said was X-rated and I believe she's right.

Kujacku Tsubaki

Weeping leaves, red and white tulip shaped drooping flowers, this one is hard not to love.  Well, at this time of year, the whole yard is hard not to love, accept for the chickweed.

This evening we took a walk down to the creek to check out the results of the latest rain, which were good, the pond creek was really flowing for the first time all winter.  On our way back home we saw first an osprey flying across the farm and then almost immediately we spotted three great blue herons on their way to a roost for the night.  Yesterday there were four red-shouldered hawks screeing and circling above our house in the afternoon. 

Everything is on the move and ready to begin the next cycle of life and growth. I want it to slow down so I can relish each moment, each opening of the petals.  I'm looking forward to a few days here at home with few obligations other than just being here in the space and taking in all the beauty, as I pull weeds...

Baby Snapping Turtle

David spotted this little guy trying to cross our road and picked him up to bring home and show me.  You can see he's a snapper even this small. He's got clay on his back, must have very recently emerged from his egg.  We took him down to the pond where we imagine he'll be happy. He's a blur leaving D's hand and heading for the water.

We'll be a blur later today heading to the beach for a week.  There we'll be running down to the water ourselves. Might post from there- might not, we'll see what happens.

Turtle Gertie

Been seeing a lot of our resident turtle Gertrude lately. I imagine she's lived in our yard longer than us, but for sure we've been seeing her for 12 years since we moved in. I'm not sure if she's on the move from all the rain we've been having or if she knows we'll give her some tomatoes to eat, today she was in luck.

I finally finished the blueberry patch. Its taken me weeks, beginning with taking apart the potato cages which I had set up in between the plants planning to use the soil we piled in there to improve the rows.

When we originally planted the blues, we set them far apart and not in much of a line so mowing around them has been a pain. I decided it would be good to create rows, so first I had to remove the grass in between, then I spread that good dirt from the potato bins, I added 3 more plants to one row, and finally today I put down newspapers and covered the whole thing with 4 big cartloads of mulch. I think they are going to be real happy and hope they'll spread towards one another and fill the rows. And mowing is going to be so much easier now too. I'm sure they will never look this good again so feast your eyes

Strawberries for Gertrude

Meet Gertrude. She's our resident turtle. We've been seeing her around the place for at least five years.


We know its Gertie by the light areas on the back edge of her shell. We've watched her lay eggs in our garden three different times and Mr. D once saw the hatchlings. It's a long slow process as she digs the hole, getting it just right, feeling with her hind legs to determine if the hole is the proper depth and size. Then in a turtle labor trance she jerks her head a few times and slowly pops a long white rubbery egg out into the hole and feels again with her hind legs that it is properly positioned before squeezing another one out.

It's hard to believe she could have more than one in her little body, they are about an inch and a half long and half an inch wide. We've gotten tired of watching as its so slow, so we aren't sure how many she actually lays. When we've witnessed the egg laying, we mark the spot so as not to disturb it until the eggs have hatched. Supposedly the incubation lasts about 3 months, so we mark the calendar, but we've only seen the babies one time.


We feel a little guilty since we put up our groundhog/rabbit fence because now Gertrude can't get into the vegetable garden to snack on some of her favorite foods. So we've been feeding her strawberries whenever we've seen her around in the last few weeks. She turned up her nose at some out of season cantaloupe that D tried to feed her from the fridge the other day. Discerning locavore that she is, she would have none of it.



The strawberries are about done so we'll have to find something else for her until the tomatoes start coming in, her other favorite food.

Isn't the skin on her neck amazing as she reaches out for another juicy bite?

Check out my May Chapel Hill News Column which sports a super photo taken by Mr. D. of a male Rose- Breasted Grosbeak at our feeder.