the beginning of spring green swells with every rain storm. today rains with lightning and the thunder beings showed up most of the afternoon. i will have to check with my good buddy, alvin calvin, (one of my old timey neighbors who has been at our side since we arrived here in the mountains 33 years ago), to see what the folklore is about lightning in february,, maybe it was snow in april… ?? i hear the thunder rumble across these mountains still without leaves on the hillside trees, so the thunder rumbles through without getting caught if the dress of summer fullness. the sound is really different with thunder in the mountains of winter.
on a farm, first you grow the soil.. all farming starts with the earth, the richness of the dark dirt is the grounds for the growing of summer. the warm weather has us starting garden soil amendments, and lime especially good for our fields here in the mountains. this is the time of year, as is winter, when john and i move last years well composted horse and chicken manure onto the veggie gardens.. this winter our tractor was down for most of the cold season. still we cleaned out barns (manure management) and heated our house with wood as usual.. more geezer power less carbon fuels this season,, that is for sure.
while the ground is so soft from the rain and freeze and thaw that highlights our southern winter, this is the best time to pull into the garden now and pull grasses and ground ivy, and other intruders sneaking into the garden, the loamy soil,the heave of frosts still and the wetness makes it easier to clean the garden edges of those plants poised to invade the lush fertile ground we have been building with manure amendments and rock phosphate every year to 10 years at least. this winter warmth has us out and about in the land again.
earth mother awakens
it is wet everywhere right now. even my best traction shoe treads can’t keep me from sliding up and down the slopes even the little rises have me skating on the mud. there needs to be a name for the mud season between frozen ground of winter and settled earth of spring growth.. mud season -comes along – dividing the seasons now. the farm house shows the changes too, i promise, especially with 4 sets of dog feet adding to the traffic.
these warm days bring the bees out, and in doors to the fragrant flowers abundant indoors on house plants as no pollen is in the making outdoors yet. raphe & I checked the hives on a warm day last week. We have 2 strong hives!! 2 more hives coming to add to the bee yard this april growing slowly to sustainable hive yard. our hives are very strong and full of bees, even brood!! – sign of health and wellness in our bee world. i added a pollen patty to both hives, so they can find support of good food for development even in february. a swarm may be a possibility by late march being that there is brood now. checking the hives weekly and watching the hive’s brood and development begins again as the weather warms..
the chickens are loving the earth now thawed. they are scratching everywhere finding bug larva and seeds that withstood the winter. we are determined to keep chickens out of the many flower beds around the house. chickens can free range everywhere else but garden beds( many ).. right now chickens are winning. people are working at reducing chicken prints in growing places.. when the dogs see us chasing chickens… they think chasing is for everyone.. bad habits are hard to break.. we are still, after all these years working on this one interaction of bird and dingo… learning learning…….
Vanessa & I have jumped into seed catalogs, which always brings the growing season into the mind now, replacing cabin fever with the beginning stir of the growing time. colorful flowers and thick spinach leaves can’t be to far behind the seed catalogs reviewed. we have had fun this week figuring what we will grow together this year. seeds come in many forms, some go into the dark moist earth ground, some seeds go into the ground of the mind. as a farmer seeding time is a full of possibilities. watching the process from seed in ground through the growth of the green to fruit abundant build understanding of how all life moves forward. i may plant the seed in the ground, but it is the universe that shows up with water light air and earth to provide for me/with me. the love and grace surround me. IT is time to surrender to the flow of life love & light. enjoy the rising spring richness, vivid with life and life change.
heart arising/ splash!
As the rains come in springtime, the name for the valley we live in – Spring Creek – becomes so obviously well named. Water pops out of the ground everywhere, like every 10 feet!! – there is another little springlet that just can’t be contained by the ground and the water just pops up everywhere. This is exuberance that can not be contained. Robins have arrived to mine for the worms that surface with the rains. Woodpeckers are reverberating through the trees empty still of leaves. Hard beaks marks out a rhythm that rings over the hills cause the bugs are waking up under the bark of the fallen and standing dead trees, the woodpecker is fattening up with tasty treats. We moved here 33 years ago, on the spring equinox – balance point, equality – moving into the light of the sun. This symbolic wink of balance represented by Equinox is a mindful gesture ever present still. Balance is but an instant, pulsing in and away. Seeds unfold into the earth and up toward the sun, growing to bloom and to die to be again a seed to bloom again… balance ever-changing, and never a done deal..
On a farm, life is immediately out the door, full circle surround around , always – everyday – a sensual life. whether is it the warm smells rising on a spring breeze, or mud so slippery skating on a slope is a talent to learn quickly, farm life has immediate texture and grain – cause that mud is such a texture that when butt hits slick
We rarely dictate what there is to be done here, more often our job is to recognize the moment and respond.. That can only happen well when we really are paying attention to the situation present at every moment in every day. This simple practice – which farm life evolves from – is basic to all other relationship. Like a seed, this sense of being in the present moment expands beyond mud and breeze into all other areas of living. the farmer just has the practice with earth to wake up to be part of every day, local and close. sensual awareness comes alive..
Farm life, like a sailor’s life requires situational awareness, ie: awake to the moment willing to respond to. We serve as the listeners to the moment, and watching the pulse & the heart beat of the seasons. Farm time does not correlate with clock time, these are different standards of time judgement. To be embraced in nature’s time is to sleep and wake at the feet of the universe. to open to the connections to the land weather and cycle becomes a lesson for all of life, and grows stronger season to season. here come the spring, welcome hOMe to earth. be part of it all.