Edibles

For the last week I have been enjoying a few wild edibles here and there, after learning how to identify some of the plants.

I have supplemented my store diet with ostrich ferns, cattails, dandelion greens and wild oat stems. The cattails tasted a bit like okra. Looking forward to trying some other the bounty around us as the spring and summer progress.

Other new things: the beaver has made two new dams...we may end up with a second pond, but it does not threaten any roadways. Seems to add to the beauty of the nature around us.

Snow in April

Cold front has brought us snow during the last two days, but no accumulation. It's just a raw day and all the wildflowers are closed up tight against the cold.

I've harvested some Wild Oats shoots to try. Not a good day for gardening, but a good day for a woodstove fire.

April 11 - Spring Peepers

After a week of summerlike weather, followed by more seasonal temps, spring is moving forward at a reckless pace. Already planted peas, carrots, onions, and turnips. Snow has long since gone. River plants are several inches high. The white trillium is coming up...almost ready to bloom. Tulips not far behind.
In Concord all the fruit trees are aleady bloomming, as if we were in Washington, D.C. I am not sure how people can deny the climate is changing. I guess sometimes people believe what they want to believe, even with evidence to the contrary staring them in the face.

April 4 - Woodfrogs

Heard the Wood Frogs on April 4! a welcome sound. They stopped, of course, as soon as we approached the vernal pool. This is early!

Summer is Here Already!

Hard to imagine that just a couple of weeks ago we were sinking three feet deep into the snow in the woods!

Now the river plants are up over an inch...green finger nails scratching their way out of the moss along the brook.
Went up into the 70’s today.

With the summerlike temperatures, life has re-emerged in the pond and vernal pools around the property. I saw a squiggly gray creature in a vernal pool the size of a pine needle. It moved like a worm or small snake.

Have not heard the wood frogs, yet, but they can’t be far behind. I already planted some peas. Most of the snow has disappeared.
The robins, junkoes, phoebes and ducks are all actively seeking partners or future nesting sites and the vegetarians are taking advantage of last year’s seeds, now exposed.

More Floods

Record rains in New England, especially in Rhode Island, and Massachusetts. In NH the flooding is not as bad. The temperatures are warmer than usual. Ice out is early and we just have a small sliver of ice left on our own pond. I saw black insects flying already. Are they black flies? On Sunday I spotted a half inch of a river plant rising from the wet humus along the river bank, same spot I’ve observed in previous years.

Obama announced opening up coastal areas to oil drilling. Ouch!