Busy as Bees

Peony Do Tell

Howdy sports fans!  I will tell that it has been spring madness around here for a few weeks now.  Non-stop gardening, interspersed with bird-watching and splashed with actual paid work.  The annual battle of trying to beat back the weeds in the flower beds and get fertilizer and mulch down around things to help them along and keep the weeds from regrowing is an ongoing effort.  Progress has been made with a truckload of compost spread and three truckloads of mulch.  But we've yet to finish the task.  I'm guessing I'm about two-thirds of the way through at this point.  About the time I get done with all the flower beds, it will likely be time to start weeding the ones I did first, again.  Such is the life of a couple of over the top gardeners.

In the veggie patch things are looking stellar.  I just peeked a couple of posts back and the potatoes pictured there are now knee high and the peas are almost to the top of the trellis and flowering.  Greens are lush.  We have been eating obligatory monster piles of salad and skillets full of cooked greens on a daily basis.  Glorious mixes of red and green leaf lettuces, red-stemmed Bordeaux spinach, arugula and cress for the salads.  Kale, beet greens, spinach, chard, mustard and turnip greens in the braising mix.  Love the first fresh greens of spring!

Summer garden is almost in.  I've planted 22 tomato plants, 13 peppers, beans, squash and cucumbers.  Basil and nasturtiums.  I still want to put out some butternut squash, sweet potatoes, more beans, tomatillos and a few more peppers. Also sunflowers and zinnias need sowing.  But I'm getting close.  We've been picking and eating sweet red strawberries this week and asparagus too.

Peony Raspberry Sundae

I've waxed poetic many times before about peonies.  They are just starting to open and the yard is hypnotic with their fragrance and that of the lilac in full bloom.  

Birding during the past two prime weeks for northern migration has been rewarding.  My extreme birding brother Chris has been out each morning and calling me once or twice a day with the bird report.  When I've been lucky enough to get out there with him we have seen some excellent birds.  Most exciting for me are always the warblers and this season was no exception.  I have seen prairie, pine, black-throated blue, yellow-throated, common-yellow throat, chestnut-sided, Canada, parula, black and white, hooded, Kentucky and blue-winged warblers.  Also in the warbler family; Northern and Louisiana water thrushes, ovenbirds, American redstarts and chat.  Veery and Swainson's thrushes have also been in the woods on their way north and the fluting and melodious wood thrush has been calling daily for several weeks.  Back for the season to breed are the scarlet and summer tanagers, indigo bunting, great crested flycatcher, peewee, and red-headed woodpecker.  It's a great time to be a birder.

I've also been working on promoting the new business and finally finished my website and launched it last week.  So hop over and check it out at www.playfulnatureconsulting.com  and if you are on Facebook, please like my page: playful nature consulting.  Thanks!  now I'm off to bed to rest off so I can do some more gardening tomorrow!

The Creativity Collective

My new business cards

I've been meeting every two or three weeks with a few of my most creative friends.  Artists, musicians, writers.  We're calling ourselves the Creativity Collective.  

It has been a supportive and motivational process.  

Each time we meet we discuss issues we are facing in trying to move our work forward, in getting marketing done, building business and clientele, organizing various projects we each are working on.  We help each other set goals and provide a venue for accountability to meeting those goals.  

One of mine is marketing to launch my new business Playful Nature.  One of the gals helped me with graphic layout for my card and then another came up with the snappy idea of stitching together seed packets into a patchwork to back the cards, making each one unique.  Yes, you read "stitching" Peg is a fabric artist so thinks of sewing everything.  Click on the photo above to get a closer look. They are very cool and memorable, not something I want to produce thousands of, but they should make an impression on folks when I hand them out.

The website is coming along but not quite ready to launch, though I've set a goal for this week.  I'll keep you posted, taxes still need to get finished...  

I do have a really good gig tomorrow presenting on gardening with kids to a group of childcare center directors and staff through the Natural Learning Initiative at NCSU.  This is the sort of thing I hope to get lots more of. 

Spring is here and along with it come lots of new opportunities and new beginnings.

 

Camellia Kujacku Tsubaki

Every day there is something new in bloom.  I LOVE April.

Must be March

  Trout lilies are open down along the creek

First Hepatica reveal their hairy buds

Signs of spring are all around; bulbs blooming, buds fattening, birds singing.

High water from heavy rains last week scoured the leaves from the creek trails and left a slake of mud.  Now when I walk I can see the tracks of all those who use these trails; deer, raccoon, human, dog.

I flushed four wood ducks on the creek this morning, they are skittish, hard to sneak up on. They remind me it's time to start taking my binoculars with me when I walk.

 

Spectacular drifts of daffodils in the Tilley's creek bottom. 

Remnants from an old farmstead or washed downstream ages ago

Allergies are killing me, not sure from what but guessing cedars that are orange with pollen from the early warmth.  Yesterday was 78, tomorrow will be 40's with a low of 22, these mercurial shifts are hard on things.

On Monday I worked all day to plant seeds of radish, lettuce, spinach, beets, carrots, kale, choi's, tatsoi, cress, arugula, cilantro.  In a few weeks the salad bowl with be overflowing! At the same time I am harvesting spinach, kale and lettuce planted in the fall still thriving.  Dug a huge bowl of carrots too.

I also set out broccoli and cabbage plants.  Just now I covered the tender little plants with hoops and remay to protect from tonight and tomorrows cold and heavy wind and rain.

In the bedroom grow lights above and warming mats below the flats of tiny tomatoes and yet to emerge peppers.  In the living room more flats of herbs and flowers.  On the kitchen table and scattered in my office, packets of seeds, planting charts, sacks of seed potatoes.

Must be March.

Lately

Snippets of spring appear here and there, a primrose, a crocus, the prunus mume in bloom and smelling like cinnamon.  Then it snows, or it sleets, or the temperature plunges back into the teens.  I have faith that spring will eventually arrive in earnest.  And so I get out there and face a scenario like this one:

 

A bit daunting but I got it done.  240 onion plants are now tucked into those long furrows.  It was timely that the plants arrived on the day we pulled the last of the onions out of storage.  They were looking a little worse for wear, the outside layer mushy, the center sprouting a green tip, but still edible and a good addition to that nights supper.

The days have included many walks along the streams and through the woods, taking in the clear skies and sunlight sparkling on babbling waters.   I love winter walking, no sweat, no bugs.  I vowed at the new year that I would attempt to make a daily pilgrimage to what I call the "Church of the Woods".  I've not been entirely successful but I have managed to get out most days, even if just to make the trek to the mailbox and take in the sky and pastures.  

And for you bird watchers out there.  I did make the trip with brother Chris to see the snowy owls at Ocracoke.   And we did, despite high winds, rain, cold and other impediments, finally get to the island.  And yes, we did get a very nice, if fleeting look at a real, live, big white and brown snowy owl.  Before over eager others scared it to flight.  Darn them.  And a second look, before it was scared again.  Oh well. Everyone wanted to see it. For a full trip report hop on over to Slow Birding for Chris's version and a couple of good photos.  This little Casper above is a stone I found in the Current river last summer that spoke "owl" to me, so I carried it home for the collection.

Here's hoping March will get more hospitable soon.

PS- I just searched for onions on the blog to include a link above and realized I am officially an onion geek, there are about 10 or 12 posts related to onions on this blog!  So I'll spare you. Search for yourself if you are an onion geek too.

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...

Asparagus, Morels and no Time to Sit Still

12 days without a post, it must be April!  BUSY, BUSY, BUSY.  I've barely had time to enjoy my garden let alone get any work done in it or write a post.  It's a good thing David has been around to do the major share of watering, weeding, and mulching, if it had been up to me, everything would probably be buried in chickweed going to seed by now.

I have managed to get the spring garden well under way with two plantings of several things.  We have good stands now of young carrots, beets, fennel, turnips, peas, lettuce, radish and kale.  The onions are growing as are the garlic, the strawberries are flowering and we've started harvesting asparagus.  I also set out some cabbage plants and sowed seed for bok choy, tatsoi and swiss chard last week.  We'll be working hard in another month to eat all the vegggies we've planted.

Tomatoes are stepped up to bigger pots and have been hardening off for a week, hope to plant them next weekend.  After the hottest first week for April on record all the leaves have flown out and the tulips and daffodils made a quick exit.  Thankfully the temps have cooled back down to normal.  The weeping redbud has been putting on an excellent show.

I took my first real spring bird walk yesterday with my friend Stew, still a bit early for the migrants but managed to see ovenbird, northern waterthrushes, yellow throated warbler, common yellow throat and heard but did not see northern parula and hooded warbler.  It was a splendid day weatherwise and we enjoyed each others company while getting warbler neck from trying to spot those darn parulas, always in the very tops of the tallest trees straight overhead. David caught this pileated woodpecker messing around in the yard, seems he may be considering our vicinity for a nesting ground this season, that would be very fine.

And to top off the season, morels!  Perhaps the best harvest we've found on the land near our house in all the years we've lived here, it's such a matter of timing and then just being able to spot the things, they look exactly like the leaf litter and D has a much better eye for them than I do.  I can be starting straight at them and not see them. But oh they were yummy.

Spring IS on the way

Wow- I can't believe its been two whole weeks since I've posted to the blog, apologies readers, it's been a very busy time with lots of details to pull together to get the Growing Healthy Kids community gardens up and running for the spring, an extra day added to my schedule at The Forest and volunteer training to lead childrens programs over at Duke Gardens.  Phew.

I've also started volunteering one afternoon a week at the local food pantry, doing intake and food distribution for Spanish speaking clients in an effort to keep my Spanish fresh after returning from Mexico.  It's sobering how little people have to live on, I'm glad this service exists for these families that are in hard times looking for work and struggling to make ends meet. 

When I was hanging out in the dark and cold days of February, I felt like I had a lot of time on my hands, and think I might have overcommitted myself, forgetting how busy I am when the spring kicks in.  I'm just hoping life will settle down a smidge once things get underway and I'm in the maintenance phase rather than the start-up phase of things.  But boy howdy, I've been running.

Lots of things seem to be running late, but it feels like they're trying to make up for lost time after the long cold.   The bulbs in particular are rocketing out of the ground now, tulips, hyacinths and daffodils all seem like I could about sit and watch them grow on the the warm days we've been graced with in the past week.

This is one of my favorite late winter plants, the Edgeworthia or Paper Plant.  Very lovely and eye-catching from a distance, the white petticoat like flowers hanging from the bare branches, swing like little bells.  Up close; the bright yellow undersides of the clusters of tiny trumpets are revealed and they are very fragrant, a bit like Lily of the Valley.

Most of the seeds I planted two weeks ago are finally sprouting, beets, spinach, turnips, peas are all popping out and I think I spied a few wisps of carrots this afternoon.  I plan to plant some lettuce, kale, and bok choy tomorrow if the rain lets up.  Woo Hoo- spring veggies are on the way.

Spring's Official

With the passing of the equinox yesterday its officially spring. Might not know it by the cool temps but on my morning walks this week I've seen plenty of evidence that everything is about to burst to life. The whole world feels pregnant, plants lush with all the recent rain and ready to open flower buds and send up new shoots.

I spotted these geese checking out the pond, every year there's a new group of goslings down there, no sign of nest building yet, but I think this is our annual pair.

I'm bored a bit with the winter birds and eagerly anticipating the migration which will be in the next few weeks. In the meantime, I'm rediscovering some of the strikingly beautiful commoners, blue jays, robins and kingfishers. I was studying a pair of blue jays on the drive way this morning, a patchwork of white, and light and dark blue feathers on there tails and the backs of their wings looks almost like a checkerboard. And the robins, oh so ordinary- NOT- speckled faces, yellow eye ring, rusty red breast, they are stunners really.

The kingfishers have been very loud this week both at the pond and along the creek, calling their ratchety cry as they swoop close to the water and then soar up into the trees, their crests erect when they land on a branch. I think they are probably working out some territory issues, who is going to nest in which section of the creek bank, who gets the pond as their turf? Or is it mating activity? Not sure, maybe some of both.

May apples began to unwind this week like so many tiny green umbrellas.

With the extension of the daylight I can feel myself growing too, reaching for the light, everyday a new level of energy for work and thought and writing.

Planting Time

Crocus- the ultimate harbingers of spring

It's been a ridiculously warm week with day after day in the 70's so I got out and started digging. Planted peas, lettuce, carrots, beets, spinach, chard, radish and arugula. Hopefully they won't all sprout and get frozen right off the bat, but I was feeling hopeful and went ahead on and did it.

The peepers are calling, the birds are singing, the owls are caterwauling at one another in mating dance and the bluebirds are checking out the bird houses, spring must be just around the corner.

This morning I woke early, the just past full moon was shrouded in a milky fog. As I sat at my desk writing, the sky got pink before the sun came up, I turned off my light and watched the color move across the horizon. I saw, then heard, a line of geese, honking and flapping their way to the days work in some nearby field.

These daffodils, the first of the season, popped open yesterday.

This will be my last post for a bit, we head off tomorrow for Florida, to paddle our kayaks amongst the mangroves of the 10,000 islands and gaze across the salt marshes of the Everglades. We hope to see amazing birds and manatees, swim in clear waters and lay our bodies on the warm sand.