Digging in the dirt

I guess I can now finally say with certainty that spring has sprug. It took a long, long while. This winter seemed to just never end, right up to the point where there was a dusting of snow on the car on the morning of my birthday. Thankfully, that’s the last I ever saw of it. For the record, I recall birthdays where we were in shorts on lawn chairs in the back yard. This year was certainly not one of those.

But this past weekend, we did manage to get out a lot. I biked, and there was solid sun all weekend. The trees have swollen buds that seem to be just aching to burst out and reach for the light. God knows, my eyes and sinuses have told me in no subtle tones that the pollen, it is flying.

Out at Woodcock Pocket, Suzanne has been madly tapping her toes waiting to get out back and start her garden. This past weekend, the soil out back was starting to dry. While the part of the back yard near the house was still pretty much marsh land, the farther back part was dry enough to plant. Suz went out and availed herself of a special at some greenhouses in the area, offering discounts on indigenous plants. She did some research and decided on two types of elderberry bushes and a serviceberry bush. All of these generate edible berries, grow about 7′ high, and offer up pretty flowers and foliage. I’m sure the birds will love us ever more as the bushes start to take and bear fruit. They say it’ll be another two seasons before we see anything at all from them, so I guess the waiting game begins. I will be happy if they find purchase in the clay back there. I imagine it can’t be easy for green things to grow in such challenging soil. But, we shall see.

In other bird-related news, our feeder has totally become a hot spot for the neighbourhood feathery creatures. We get all kinds, including a mated pair of cardinals. We’ve got several varieties of finches, and more robins than you can shake a stick at. I think it may be time to hang up a nice feeder full of niger seed to attract the goldfinches. They’re pretty. Suz also wants to see if we can attract hummingbirds. I haven’t seen any of those as yet, nor have I seen any blue jays. But, the season is young.

Here’s a shot of one of the mourning doves that comes by to sit under the feeder and clean up after the birds who sit on top and drop seeds. I think between the doves and the little chipmunk that scurries around the yard all hair-trigger the food is all eaten up, and nothing goes to waste. Gotta love nature. I keep thinking it’d be way cool to get to the point where the chickadees and chipmunks come and get seed and peanuts from our hands. I guess we shall see.